Analysis of A Laugh -- And A Moan
Abram Joseph Ryan 1839 (Hagerstown) – 1886 (Louisville)
The brook that down the valley
So musically drips,
Flowed never half so brightly
As the light laugh from her lips.
Her face was like the lily,
Her heart was like the rose,
Her eyes were like a heaven
Where the sunlight always glows.
She trod the earth so lightly
Her feet touched not a thorn;
Her words wore all the brightness
Of a young life's happy morn.
Along her laughter rippled
The melody of joy;
She drank from every chalice,
And tasted no alloy.
Her life was all a laughter,
Her days were all a smile,
Her heart was pure and happy,
She knew not gloom nor guile.
She rested on the bosom
Of her mother, like a flower
That blooms far in a valley
Where no storm-clouds ever lower.
And -- 'Merry, merry, merry!'
Rang the bells of every hour,
And -- 'Happy, happy, happy!'
In her valley laughed the flower.
There was not a sign of shadow,
There was not a tear nor thorn,
And the sweet voice of her laughter
Filled with melody the morn.
* * * * *
Years passed -- 'twas long, long after,
And I saw a face at prayer;
There was not a sign of laughter,
There was every sign of care.
For the sunshine all had faded
From the valley and the flower,
And the once fair face was shaded
In life's lonely evening hour.
And the lips that smiled with laughter
In the valley of the morn,
In the valley of the evening
They were pale and sorrow-worn.
And I read the old, old lesson
In her face and in her tears,
While she sighed amid the shadows
Of the sunset of her years.
All the rippling streams of laughter
From our hearts and lips that flow,
Shall be frozen, cold years after,
Into icicles of woe.
Scheme | ABAB ACDC AEXE XFXF GHAH XGAG AGAG IEGE GJGJ XGXG GEXE DXCX GIGI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111010 11001 1101110 1011101 0111010 011101 0101010 10111 1101110 011101 0111010 1011101 0101010 010011 11110010 01011 0111010 010101 0111010 111111 1101010 10101010 1110010 11111010 0101010 101110010 0101010 00101010 1110111 1110111 00111010 1110001 1 1111110 0110111 11101110 11100111 1011110 10100010 00111110 01101010 00111110 0010101 00101010 1010101 01101110 0010001 1110101 101101 101001110 11010111 11101110 0110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,542 |
Words | 312 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 53 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 87 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:33 min read
- 90 Views
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"A Laugh -- And A Moan" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42612/a-laugh----and-a-moan>.
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