Analysis of The Grass-Rope Bridge, at Teree, In the province of Gurwall
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
We had to watch the fading
Of that young and lovely cheek,
And that pale lip's mute upbraiding,
Which asked not sound to speak.
We saw that she was pining
For her own loved English land,
And her life's sweet light declining,
For she loathed our Indian strand;
Her heart was with her mother,
Far o'er the salt sea foam,
And she could not love another,
As she loved her early home.
She clung with love too tender
To every former scene,
For one of Eastern splendour,
To be what they had been.
Alas, why did we bring her
To this golden land in vain ?
Ah, would that we could wing her
To her native land again !
We never see her weeping,
But we know that she does weep ;
And she names loved names in sleeping,
As she names them but in sleep.
We watch one bright spot burning
On her cheek of hectic red,
And we dread each day's returning,
Lest it rise but for the dead.
"The English who have lost their health, often resort to these hills for the hot season, where the air and exercise are sometimes as beneficial as the voyage to Europe." The following verses allude to the early death of a young friend, who, adopted by some distant relatives, accompanied them to India ; and died in this very spot, whither she had been taken for the recovery of her health.
Scheme | ABAB ACAC DEDE DXDX DXDX AFAF AGAG X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010 1110101 011111 111111 1111110 1011101 00111010 111101001 0111010 1100111 01111010 1110101 1111110 1100101 111101 111111 0111110 1110101 1111110 1010101 1101010 1111111 01111010 1111101 1111110 1011101 01111010 1111101 010111111001111101101010101011010101011001001001101011011101011101000100111000101101101111010010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,226 |
Words | 238 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 122 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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"The Grass-Rope Bridge, at Teree, In the province of Gurwall" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/44899/the-grass-rope-bridge%2C-at-teree%2C-in-the-province-of-gurwall>.
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