Analysis of Calais, August 1802
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
IS it a reed that's shaken by the wind,
Or what is it that ye go forth to see?
Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree,
Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind,
Post forward all, like creatures of one kind,
With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee
In France, before the new-born Majesty.
'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind,
A seemly reverence may be paid to power;
But that's a loyal virtue, never sown
In haste, nor springing with a transient shower:
When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown,
What hardship had it been to wait an hour?
Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone!
Scheme | ABBAABBACDC DCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110101 1111111111 11010101101 1101011101 1101110111 11110011101 0101011100 1101111101 01100111110 1101010101 01110101010 1111110001 11011111110 11110111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 619 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 3 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 239 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 125 Views
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"Calais, August 1802" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42167/calais%2C-august-1802>.
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