Analysis of A Midsummer Noon in the Australian Forest
Charles Harpur 1813 (Windsor) – 1868 (Australia)
A MIDSUMMER NOON IN THE AUSTRALIAN FOREST
Not a bird disturbs the air!
There is quiet everywhere;
Over plains and over woods
What a mighty stillness broods.
Even the grasshoppers keep
[All the birds and insects keep]
Where the coolest shadows sleep;
Even the busy ants are found
Resting in their pebbled mound;
Even the locust clingeth now
In silence to the barky bough:
And over hills and over plains
Quiet, vast and slumbrous, reigns.
Only there's a drowsy humming
From yon warm lagoon slow coming:
'Tis the dragon-hornet - see!
All bedaubed resplendently
With yellow on a tawny ground -
Each rich spot nor square nor round,
But rudely heart-shaped, as it were
The blurred and hasty impress there,
Of vermeil-crusted seal
Dusted o'er with golden meal:
Only there's a droning where
Yon bright beetle gleams the air -
Gleams it in its droning flight
[Tracks it in its gleaming flight]
With a slanting track of light,
Till rising in the sunshine higher,
[Rising in the sunshine higher,]
Its shards flame out like gems on fire.
[Till its shards flame out like fire.]
Every other thing is still,
Save the ever wakeful rill,
Whose cool murmur only throws
A cooler comfort round Repose;
Or some ripple in the sea
Of leafy boughs, where, lazily,
Tired Summer, in her forest bower
Turning with the noontide hour,
Heaves a slumbrous breath, ere she
Once more slumbers peacefully.
0 'tis easeful here to lie
Hidden from Noon's scorching eye,
In this grassy cool recess
Musing thus of Quietness.
two versions of this poem have been located. The relevant changes are included in the text in square brackets, i.e. "[...]".
Scheme | X AABB CCCDDEEFF GGHIDDJAIIAAKKKJJJJ IILLHHJJHH IXXX X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011010001010 1010101 111010 1010101 1010101 100101 101011 101011 10010111 100111 1001011 0101011 01010101 101011 10101010 11101110 1010101 111 11010101 1111111 11011110 01010011 11101 10101101 1010101 1110101 1101101 1101101 1010111 11000110 1000110 111111110 11111110 10010111 101011 1110101 01010101 1110001 11011100 1010001010 1010110 101111 111100 11111 1011101 0110101 1011100 11011101110010010101000101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,619 |
Words | 283 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 9, 19, 10, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 228 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Midsummer Noon in the Australian Forest" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5112/a-midsummer-noon-in-the-australian-forest>.
Discuss this Charles Harpur 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