Analysis of A Wedding-Song

John White Chadwick 1840 (Marblehead, Massachusett) – 1904 (Brooklyn, New York)



I said: 'My heart, now let us sing a song
For a fair lady on her wedding-day;
Some solemn hymn or pretty roundelay,
That shall be with her as she goes along
To meet her joy, and for her happy feet
Shall make a pleasant music, low and sweet.'

Then said my heart: 'It is right bold of thee
To think that any song that we could sing
Would for this lady be an offering
Meet for such gladness as hers needs must be,
What time she goes to don her bridal ring,
And her own heart makes sweetest caroling.'

And so it is that with my lute unstrung,
Lady, I come to greet thy wedding-day;
But once, methinks, I heard a poet say,
The sweetest songs remain for aye unsung.
So mine, unsung, at thy dear feet I lay,
And with a 'Peace be with you!' go my way.


Scheme ABXACC DEEDEA ABBXBB
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111101 1011010101 11011101 1111011101 1101010101 1101010101 1111111111 1111011111 1111011100 111110111 1111110101 00111101 011111111 1011111101 111110101 0101011101 1101111111 0101111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 734
Words 155
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 188
Words per stanza (avg) 50
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
71

John White Chadwick

John White Chadwick (19 October 1840 – 11 December 1904) was an American writer and clergyman of the Unitarian Church. more…

All John White Chadwick poems | John White Chadwick Books

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