Analysis of A Golden Hour

William Watson 1858 (Burley in Wharfedale) – 1935 (Rottingdean)



A beckoning spirit of gladness seemed afloat,
That lightly danced in laughing air before us:
The earth was all in tune, and you a note
Of Nature's happy chorus.

'Twas like a vernal morn, yet overhead
The leafless boughs across the lane were knitting:
The ghost of some forgotten Spring, we said,
O'er Winter's world comes flitting.

Or was it Spring herself, that, gone astray,
Beyond the alien frontier chose to tarry?
Or but some bold outrider of the May,
Some April-emissary?

The apparition faded on the air,
Capricious and incalculable comer.--
Wilt thou too pass, and leave my chill days bare,
And fall'n my phantom Summer?


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Quatrain 
Metre 01001011101 11010101011 0111010101 1101010 1101011101 01010101010 0111010111 10101110 1111011101 010100011110 111110101 110100 001010101 01000100010 1111011111 01111010
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 110
Sentences 7
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 123
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

34 sec read
95

William Watson

William Watson, was a surgeon in the 105th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War. more…

All William Watson poems | William Watson Books

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