Analysis of The Passing of the Elder Bards
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
THE MIGHTY Minstrel breathes no longer,
Mid mouldering ruins low he lies;
And death upon the braes of Yarrow
Has closed the Shepherd-poet’s eyes:
Nor has the rolling year twice measured,
From sign to sign, its steadfast course,
Since every mortal power of Coleridge
Was frozen at its marvellous source;
The ’rapt One, of the godlike forehead,
The heaven-eyed creature sleeps in earth:
And Lamb, the frolic and the gentle,
Has vanished from his lonely hearth.
Like clouds that rake the mountain-summits,
Or waves that own no curbing hand,
How fast has brother followed brother,
From sunshine to the sunless land!
Yet I, whose lids from infant slumber
Were earlier raised, remain to hear
A timid voice, that asks in whispers,
“Who next will drop and disappear?”
Scheme | ABXB XCXC XXXX XDAD AXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (60%) Etheree (25%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 010101110 1110111 010101110 11010101 110101110 1111111 11001010110 1101111 01110110 010110101 010100010 11011101 111101010 11111101 111101010 111011 111111010 010010111 010111010 1111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 759 |
Words | 130 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 121 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 127 Views
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