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

Charles Harpur

Charles Harpur was an Australian poet. more…

All Charles Harpur poems | Charles Harpur Books

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