Analysis of To Joanna
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
Amid the smoke of cities did you pass
The time of early youth; and there you learned,
From years of quiet industry, to love
The living Beings by your own fireside,
With such a strong devotion, that your heart
Is slow to meet the sympathies of them
Who look upon the hills with tenderness,
And make dear friendships with the streams and groves.
Yet we, who are transgressors in this kind,
Dwelling retired in our simplicity
Among the woods and fields, we love you well,
Joanna! and I guess, since you have been
So distant from us now for two long years,
That you will gladly listen to discourse,
However trivial, if you thence be taught
That they, with whom you once were happy, talk
Familiarly of you and of old times.
While I was seated, now some ten days past,
Beneath those lofty firs, that overtop
Their ancient neighbour, the old steeple-tower,
The Vicar from his gloomy house hard by
Came forth to greet me; and when he had asked,
"How fares Joanna, that wild-hearted Maid!
And when will she return to us?" he paused;
And, after short exchange of village news,
He with grave looks demanded, for what cause,
Reviving obsolete idolatry,
I, like a Runic Priest, in characters
Of formidable size had chiselled out
Some uncouth name upon the native rock,
Above the Rotha, by the forest-side.
--Now, by those dear immunities of heart
Engendered between malice and true love,
I was not loth to be so catechised,
And this was my reply:--"As it befell,
One summer morning we had walked abroad
At break of day, Joanna and myself.
--'Twas that delightful season when the broom,
Full-flowered, and visible on every steep,
Along the copses runs in veins of gold.
Our pathway led us on to Rotha's banks;
And when we came in front of that tall rock
That eastward looks, I there stopped short--and stood
Tracing the lofty barrier with my eye
From base to summit; such delight I found
To note in shrub and tree, in stone and flower
That intermixture of delicious hues,
Along so vast a surface, all at once,
In one impression, by connecting force
Of their own beauty, imaged in the heart.
--When I had gazed perhaps two minutes' space,
Joanna, looking in my eyes, beheld
That ravishment of mine, and laughed aloud.
The Rock, like something starting from a sleep,
Took up the Lady's voice, and laughed again;
That ancient Woman seated on Helm-crag
Was ready with her cavern; Hammar-scar,
And the tall Steep of Silver-how, sent forth
A noise of laughter; southern Loughrigg heard,
And Fairfield answered with a mountain tone;
Helvellyn far into the clear blue sky
Carried the Lady's voice,--old Skiddaw blew
His speaking-trumpet;--back out of the clouds
Of Glaramara southward came the voice;
And Kirkstone tossed it from his misty head.
--Now whether (said I to our cordial Friend,
Who in the hey-day of astonishment
Smiled in my face) this were in simple truth
A work accomplished by the brotherhood
Of ancient mountains, or my ear was touched
With dreams and visionary impulses
To me alone imparted, sure I am
That there was a loud uproar in the hills.
And, while we both were listening, to my side
The fair Joanna drew, as if she wished
To shelter from some object of her fear.
--And hence, long afterwards, when eighteen moons
Were wasted, as I chanced to walk alone
Beneath this rock, at sunrise, on a calm
And silent morning, I sat down, and there,
In memory of affections old and true,
I chiselled out in those rude characters
Joanna's name deep in the living stone:--
And I, and all who dwell by my fireside,
Have called the lovely rock, JOANNA'S ROCK."
Scheme | Text too long |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101110111 0111010111 1111010011 0101011110 1101010111 1111010011 1101011100 0111010101 11111011 10010100100 0101011111 0100111111 1101111111 1111010110 1010011111 1111110101 1110111 1111011111 01110111 1101011010 0101110111 1111101111 1101011101 0111011111 0101011101 1111010111 010100100 110110100 110001111 1111010101 010110101 1111010011 0100110011 11111111 0111011101 1101011101 111101001 1101010101 110010011001 010110111 101111111 0111011111 1101111101 10010100111 1111010111 11010101010 1110101 0111010111 0101010101 111101001 1111011101 010100111 11110101 0111010101 1101010101 1101010111 1101010101 0011110111 011101011 011010101 11010111 100101111 1101011101 1110101 011111101 11011110101 1001110100 1011100101 010101010 1101011111 110100100 1101010111 111011001 01110100111 0101011111 1101110101 0111001011 0101111101 011111101 0101011101 01001010101 111011100 11100101 0101111110 11010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 3,556 |
Words | 634 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 85 |
Lines Amount | 85 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 2,779 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 626 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:11 min read
- 186 Views
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"To Joanna" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42434/to-joanna>.
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