Analysis of Mary Arden
Charles Harpur 1813 (Windsor) – 1868 (Australia)
When a simple English maiden,
Nested warm in Wilmicote,
Sang forth like a lark uprising
Heavenward with its morning note,
Did no English ear that listened,
Even then, foretouched by fame,
Tremble to the prophet-music
Fountain-headed in thy name,
Mary Arden?
And to thee thyself, O tell me!
Shade of Shakespeare’s mother, tell me!
Did no dazzling vision come,
Banishing all thoughts of gloom,
Of the bardic grandeurs waiting
On thy matron fate, when He
Who in time should call thee mother
Should all time’s subjector be,
Mary Arden?
Then a mother we behold thee,
With that babe upon thy breast,
That great nascent soul, so bird-like,
Babbling in its fragrant nest:
O what spirit sweetly human,
O what instincts mildly wise,
Sucked he from those mother-fountains,
Drew he from those mother-eyes,
Mary Arden?
But shall we, now spirit-basking
In the noonblaze of his fame,
Fail to read a sign prophetic
In thy lovely maiden name?
No; it is the star that trembled
O’er a royal poet’s birth;
And amongst immortal Maries,
Second to but one on earth,
Mary Arden!
Glory to thee! Mary Arden!
Shakespeare’s mother! England’s Mary!
Scheme | abcbbdedAffxxcfxfA fbxbagxgA cdedbhghAaf |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101010 10101 11101010 111101 11101110 101111 10101010 1010011 1010 0111111 1111011 11100101 1001111 101110 1110111 10111110 11111 1010 10101011 1110111 11101111 10001101 11101010 1110101 11111010 1111101 1010 11111010 001111 11101010 0110101 11101110 1010101 0010101 1011111 1010 10111010 1101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,216 |
Words | 191 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 9, 11 |
Lines Amount | 38 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 293 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 63 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 37 Views
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"Mary Arden" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5157/mary-arden>.
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