Analysis of Written In A Blank Leaf Of Macpherson's Ossian
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
OFT have I caught, upon a fitful breeze,
Fragments of far-off melodies,
With ear not coveting the whole,
A part so charmed the pensive soul.
While a dark storm before my sight
Was yielding, on a mountain height
Loose vapours have I watched, that won
Prismatic colours from the sun;
Nor felt a wish that heaven would show
The image of its perfect bow.
What need, then, of these finished Strains?
Away with counterfeit Remains!
An abbey in its lone recess,
A temple of the wilderness,
Wrecks though they be, announce with feeling
The majesty of honest dealing.
Spirit of Ossian! if imbound
In language thou may'st yet be found,
If aught (intrusted to the pen
Or floating on the tongues of men,
Albeit shattered and impaired)
Subsist thy dignity to guard,
In concert with memorial claim
Of old grey stone, and high-born name
That cleaves to rock or pillared cave
Where moans the blast, or beats the wave,
Let Truth, stern arbitress of all,
Interpret that Original,
And for presumptuous wrongs atone;--
Authentic words be given, or none!
Time is not blind;--yet He, who spares
Pyramid pointing to the stars,
Hath preyed with ruthless appetite
On all that marked the primal flight
Of the poetic ecstasy
Into the land of mystery.
No tongue is able to rehearse
One measure, Orpheus! of thy verse;
Musaeus, stationed with his lyre
Supreme among the Elysian quire,
Is, for the dwellers upon earth,
Mute as a lark ere morning's birth.
Why grieve for these, though past away
The music, and extinct the lay?
When thousands, by severer doom,
Full early to the silent tomb
Have sunk, at Nature's call; or strayed
From hope and promise, self-betrayed;
The garland withering on their brows;
Stung with remorse for broken vows;
Frantic--else how might they rejoice?
And friendless, by their own sad choice!
Hail, Bards of mightier grasp! on you
I chiefly call, the chosen Few,
Who cast not off the acknowledged guide,
Who faltered not, nor turned aside;
Whose lofty genius could survive
Privation, under sorrow thrive;
In whom the fiery Muse revered
The symbol of a snow-white beard,
Bedewed with meditative tears
Dropped from the lenient cloud of years.
Brothers in soul! though distant times
Produced you nursed in various climes,
Ye, when the orb of life had waned,
A plenitude of love retained:
Hence, while in you each sad regret
By corresponding hope was met,
Ye lingered among human kind,
Sweet voices for the passing wind,
Departing sunbeams, loth to stop,
Though smiling on the last hill top!
Such to the tender-hearted maid
Even ere her joys begin to fade;
Such, haply, to the rugged chief
By fortune crushed, or tamed by grief;
Appears, on Morven's lonely shore,
Dim-gleaming through imperfect lore,
The Son of Fingal; such was blind
Maeonides of ampler mind;
Such Milton, to the fountain head
Of glory by Urania led!
Scheme | Text too long |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010101 10111100 111101 01110101 10110111 11010101 1111111 0101101 110111011 01011011 11111101 0111001 11001101 01010100 111101110 010011010 101111 010111111 111101 11010111 01010001 01110011 010101001 11110111 11111101 11011101 111111 01010100 010100101 010111011 11111111 10010101 1111010 11110101 10010100 01011100 11110101 110100111 110111 0101011 11010011 11011101 11111101 01000101 1101101 11010101 11110111 11010101 010100111 11011101 10111101 0111111 111100111 11010101 111100101 11011101 11010101 01010101 010100101 01010111 111001 110100111 10011101 011101001 11011111 011101 11011101 1010111 11001101 11010101 0101111 11010111 11010101 101010111 1110101 11011111 0111101 11010101 0111111 1111 11010101 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,746 |
Words | 485 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 82 |
Lines Amount | 82 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 2,222 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 481 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:26 min read
- 70 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Written In A Blank Leaf Of Macpherson's Ossian" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42481/written-in-a-blank-leaf-of-macpherson%27s-ossian>.
Discuss this William Wordsworth poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In