Analysis of A Ballad Of Evesham
August 4: 1265
Earl Simon on the Abbey tower
In summer sunshine stood,
While helm and lance o'er Greenhill heights
Come glinting through the wood.
'My son!' he cried, 'I know his flag
Amongst a thousand glancing':--
Fond father! no!--'tis Edward stern
In royal strength advancing.
The Prince fell on him like a hawk
At Al'ster yester-eve,
And flaunts his captured banner now
And flaunts but to deceive:--
--Look round! for Mortimer is by,
And guards the rearward river:--
The hour that parted sire and son
Has parted them for ever!
'Young Simon's dead,' he thinks, and look'd
Upon his living son:
'Now God have mercy on our souls,
Our bodies are undone!
But, Hugh and Henry, ye can fly
Before their bowmen smite us--
They come on well! But 'tis from me
They learn'd the skill to fight us.'
--'For England's cause, and England's laws,
With you we fight and fall!'
--'Together, then, and die like men,
And Heaven has room for all!'
--Then, face to face, and limb to limb,
And sword with sword inwoven,
That stubborn courage of the race
On Evesham field was proven
O happy hills! O summer sky
Above the valley bent!
Your peacefulness rebukes the rage
Of blood on blood intent!
No thought was then for death or life
Through that long dreadful hour,
While Simon 'mid his faithful few
Stood like an iron tower,
'Gainst which the winds and waves are hurl'd
In vain, unmoved, foursquare;
And round him raged the insatiate swords
Of Edward and De Clare:
And round him in the narrow combe
His white-cross comrades rally,
While ghastly gashings, cloud the beck
And crimson all the valley,
And triple sword-thrusts meet his sword,
And thrice the charge he foils,
Though now in threefold flood the foe
Round those devoted boils:
And still the light of England's cause
And England's love was o'er him,
Until he saw his gallant boy
Go down in blood before him:--
He hove his huge two-handed blade,
He cried ''Tis time to die!'
And smote around him like a flail,
And clear'd a space to lie:--
'Thank God!'--no more;--nor now could life
From loved and lost divide him:--
And night fell o'er De Montfort dead,
And England wept beside him.
Scheme | X ABXBXCDC XEXEFAGA XGXGFHIH XJXJKDXG FLXLMAXA XNXNXIXI XOXOXKXK XFXFMKXK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10 110101010 01011 11011011 110101 11111111 0101010 11011101 0101010 01111101 1111 01110101 011101 11110011 010110 0101101001 1101110 11011101 011101 111101101 1010101 11010111 0111011 11111111 1101111 11010101 111101 01010111 0101111 11110111 01111 11010101 111110 11011101 010101 11000101 111101 11111111 1111010 11011101 1111010 11010111 010111 0111011 110011 01100101 111110 1101101 0101010 01011111 010111 1101101 110101 01011101 01011101 01111101 1101011 11111101 111111 01011101 010111 11111111 1101011 011101101 0101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,064 |
Words | 392 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 65 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:00 min read
- 115 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Ballad Of Evesham" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42926/a-ballad-of-evesham>.
Discuss this Francis Turner Palgrave 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