Analysis of Comfortable Light
John Freeman 1880 – 1929
Most comfortable Light,
Light of the small lamp burning up the night,
With dawn enleagued against the beaten dark;
Pure golden perfect spark;
Or sudden wind-bright flame,
That but the strong-handed wind can urge or tame;
Chill loveliest light the kneeling clouds between,
Silverly serene;
Comfort of happy light,
That mouse-like leaps amid brown leaves, cheating sight;
Clear naked stars, burning with swift intense
Earthward intelligence;--
Sensitive, single
Points in the dark inane that purely tingle
With eager fire, pouring night's circles through
Their living blue;
Dark light still waters hold;
Broad silver moonpath trodden into gold:
Candle-flame glittering through the traveller's night--
Most comfortable light....
And lovelier, the eye
Where light from darkness shines unfathomably,
Light secret, clear, shallow, profound, known, strange,
Constant alone in change:--
Not that wild light that turns
Hunted from dying eyes when the last fire burns;
O, not that bitter light of wounded things,
When bony anguish springs
Sudden, intolerable;
Nor light of mad eyes gleaming up from hell....
Come not again, wild light! Shine not again,
Hill-flare of pain!
But thou, most holy light....
Not the noon blaze that stings, too fiercely bright,
Not that unwinking stare of shameless day;
But thou, the gray,
Nun-like and silent, still,
Fine-breathed on many an eastern bare green hill;
Keen light of gray eyes, cool rain, and stern spears;
Sad light, but not to tears:--
--O, comfort thou of eyes
Watching expectant from chill northern skies,
Excellent joy for lids heavy with night--
Strange with delight!
Scheme | Aabb ccdd aaxx eeff ggaA xehh iijj exxx aakk llxx mmaa |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (64%) |
Metre | 110001 1101110101 111010101 110011 110111 11011011111 111010101 101 101101 11110111101 1101101101 10100 10010 10010111010 11010101101 1101 111101 110110011 1011001011 110001 0101 1111011 1101100111 100101 111111 101101101101 1111011101 110101 1001000 1111110111 1101111101 1111 111101 1011111101 11111101 1101 110101 11110110111 1111111011 111111 110111 1001011101 1001111011 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,572 |
Words | 255 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 116 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 135 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Comfortable Light" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/43108/comfortable-light>.
Discuss this John Freeman 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