Analysis of Lines To Grief

Ann Eliza Bleecker 1752 (New York City) – 1783 (Albany)



COME Grief, and sing a solemn dirge
Beneath this midnight shade;
From central darkness now emerge,
And tread the lonely glade.
This is the cheerless hour of night,
For sorrow only made;
When no intrusive rays of light,
The silent gloom pervade.
Though such the darkness of my soul,
Not such the calmness there;
But waves of guilt tumultuous roll
'Midst billows of despair.
Fallacious Pleasure's tinsel train
My soul rejects with scorn;
If higher joys she can't attain,
She'd rather choose to mourn.
For bliss superior she was made;
Or for extreme despair;
If pain awaits her past the dead,
Why should she triumph here?
Tho' Reason points at good supreme,
Yet Grace must lead us thence
Must wake us from this pleasing dream,
The idle joys of Sense.
Surely I wish the blackest night
Of Nature to remain,
Till Christ arise with healing light,
Then welcome day again.


Scheme ABABCBCBDEDEFGFGBEHIJKJKCFCL
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101 01111 11010101 010101 11011011 110101 11010111 010101 11010111 110101 11111001 110101 0101101 110111 11011101 110111 110100111 110101 11010101 111101 11011101 111111 11111101 010111 10110101 110101 11011101 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 844
Words 152
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 28
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 685
Words per stanza (avg) 150
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

46 sec read
71

Ann Eliza Bleecker

Ann Eliza Bleecker was an American poet and correspondent. Following a New York upbringing, Bleecker married John James Bleecker, a New Rochelle lawyer, in 1769. He encouraged her writings, and helped her publish a periodical containing her works. The American Revolution saw John join the New York Militia, while Ann fled with their two daughters. She continued to write, and what remained of the family returned to Tomhannock following Burgoyne's surrender. She was saddened and affected by the deaths of numerous family members over the years, and died in 1783. Bleecker's pastoral poetry is studied by historians to gain perspective of life on the front lines of the revolution, and her novel Maria Kittle, the first known Captivity novel, set the form for subsequent Indian Capture novels which saw great popularity after her death. more…

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