Analysis of The Complaint Of a Forsaken Indian Woman
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
Before I see another day,
Oh let my body die away!
In sleep I heard the northern gleams;
The stars, they were among my dreams;
In rustling conflict through the skies,
I heard, I saw the flashes drive,
And yet they are upon my eyes,
And yet I am alive;
Before I see another day,
Oh let my body die away!
My fire is dead: it knew no pain;
Yet is it dead, and I remain:
All stiff with ice the ashes lie;
And they are dead, and I will die.
When I was well, I wished to live,
For clothes, for warmth, for food, and fire;
But they to me no joy can give,
No pleasure now, and no desire.
Then here contented will I lie
Alone, I cannot fear to die.
Alas! ye might have dragged me on
Another day, a single one!
Too soon I yielded to despair;
Why did ye listen to my prayer
When ye were gone my limb were stronger;
And oh, how grievously I rue,
That, afterward, a little longer,
My friends, I did not follow you!
For strong and without pain I lay,
Dear friends, when ye were gone away.
My Child! they gave thee to another,
A woman who was not thy mother.
When from my arms my Babe they took,
On me how strangely did he look !
Through his whole body something ran,
A most strange working did I see;
---As if he strove to be a man,
That he might pull the sledge for me:
And then he stretched his arm, how wild!
Oh mercy! like a helpless child.
My little joy! my little pride!
In two day more I must have died.
Then do not weep and grieve for me;
I feel I must have died with thee.
O wind, that o'er my head art flying
The way my friends their course did bend,
I should not feel the pain of dying,
Could I with thee a message end;
Too soon, my friend, ye went away;
For I had many thing to say.
I'll follow you across the snow;
Ye travel heavily and slow;
In spite of all my weary pain
I'll look upon your tent again.
---My fire is dead, and snowy white
The water which beside it stood:
The wolf has come to me to-night,
And he has stolen away my food.
Forever left alone am I;
Then wherefore should I fear to die ?
Young as I am, my course is run,
I shall not see another sun;
I cannot lift my limb to know
If they have any life or no.
My poor forsaken child, if I
For once could have thee close to me,
With happy heart I then would die,
And my last thought would happy be;
But thou, dear Babe, art far away,
Nor shall I see another day.
Scheme | AAbbcdcdAA eeffdgxgff xhiigjgjaa ggkklmlmnn oommpqpqaa rrexsxsxff hhrrfmfmaa |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (31%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01110101 11110101 01110101 01100111 01010101 11110101 01110111 011101 01110101 11110101 110111111 11110101 11110101 01110111 11111111 111111010 11111111 110101010 11010111 01110111 01111111 01010101 11110101 11110111 110111010 01110011 110001010 11111101 11001111 11110101 111111010 010111110 11111111 11110111 11110101 01110111 11111101 11110111 01111111 11010101 11011101 01111111 11110111 11111111 1111011110 01111111 111101110 11110101 11111101 11110111 11010101 11010001 01111101 11011101 110110101 01010111 01111111 011100111 01010111 1111111 11111111 11110101 11011111 11110111 11010111 11111111 11011111 01111101 11111101 11110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,264 |
Words | 479 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 70 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 249 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 68 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 2:24 min read
- 238 Views
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"The Complaint Of a Forsaken Indian Woman" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42340/the-complaint-of-a-forsaken-indian-woman>.
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