Analysis of St Mary Of Egypt
John Bannister Tabb 1845 (Amelia County) – 1909 ( Ellicott City)
Strong to suffer, strong to sin,
Loving much, and much forgiven,
In the desert realm a queen,
Penance-crowned, to cope with Heaven,
Solitude alone could be
Room enough for God and thee.
Long the vigil, stern the fast;
Morn, with night's anointing, chill;
Noon with passion overcast;
Night with phantoms fouler still;
Prayer and penitential tears
Battling with the lust of years.
Low upon the parching sand,
Shrivelled in the blight of day,
As beneath a throbbing brand
Prone thy ghastly shadow lay,
Till the manacles of hell
From thy fevered spirit fell.
Then, O Queen of Solitude!
Silence led thee as a bride,
Clothed anew in maidenhood,
To an altar purified,
Lit with holy fires, to prove
Self the sacrifice of Love.
Scheme | XAXABB CDCDXX EFEFGG XHCHXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110111 10101010 0010101 10111110 100111 1011101 1010101 11111 111010 111011 1011 10010111 101011 100111 1010101 111011 10111 1110101 111110 1011101 10101 111010 11101011 101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 703 |
Words | 125 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 142 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 59 Views
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"St Mary Of Egypt" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/43089/st-mary-of-egypt>.
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