Analysis of To James Bromley With 'Wordsworth's Grave'
William Watson 1858 (Burley in Wharfedale) – 1935 (Rottingdean)
Ere vandal lords with lust of gold accurst
Deface each hallowed hillside we revere--
Ere cities in their million-throated thirst
Menace each sacred mere--
Let us give thanks because one nook hath been
Unflooded yet by desecration's wave,
The little churchyard in the valley green
That holds our Wordsworth's grave.
'Twas there I plucked these elegiac blooms,
There where he rests 'mid comrades fit and few,
And thence I bring this growth of classic tombs,
An offering, friend, to you--
You who have loved like me his simple themes,
Loved his sincere large accent nobly plain,
And loved the land whose mountains and whose streams
Are lovelier for his strain.
It may be that his manly chant, beside
More dainty numbers, seems a rustic tune;
It may be, thought has broadened since he died
Upon the century's noon;
It may be that we can no longer share
The faith which from his fathers he received;
It may be that our doom is to despair
Where he with joy believed;--
Enough that there is none since risen who sings
A song so gotten of the immediate soul,
So instant from the vital fount of things
Which is our source and goal;
And though at touch of later hands there float
More artful tones than from his lyre he drew,
Ages may pass ere trills another note
So sweet, so great, so true.
Scheme | ABABXCXC DEDEFGFG AHAHIAIA JKJKAEAE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111111 011101101 1100110101 101101 1111011111 11111 010100101 111011 1111111 111111101 0111111101 1100111 1111111101 1101101101 0101110011 11111 1111110101 1101010101 1111110111 0101001 1111111101 0111110101 11111011101 111101 01111111011 011101001001 1101010111 1110101 0111110111 1101111111 1011110101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,259 |
Words | 234 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 254 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 93 Views
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"To James Bromley With 'Wordsworth's Grave'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42066/to-james-bromley-with-%27wordsworth%27s-grave%27>.
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