Analysis of Melody

Alice Cary 1820 (Mount Healthy) – 1871



Where white in the jungles
  Lay bones of the dead,
All night the wild lioness
  Howled as she fed:
The wind hot and sultry.
  And scarcely awake.
Through the dust of the desert-sand
  Crept like a snake.

But a beacon gleamed redly
  The blue rocks along,
Where a golden-tressed maiden
  Sat singing her son:
With her passionate warble
  The white sea-mist stirred,
And a boat to the desert shore
  Flew like a bird.

The deep burning blushes
  That cover her brow,
In a lover’s embraces
  Are all hidden now.
Wild rover of ocean,
  Proud scorner of storms,
Guard fondly the treasure
  Thus clasped in thine arms.

As the eyes of the pilgrim.
  Wherever he be,
Turn, down-trodden city
  Of beauty, to thee:
Turn thou, in life’s pauses
Of dimness and care.
To the sweet love of woman,
  That all things will dare!


Scheme ABABCDXD EXFFEGXG HIXIFXXX XCCCHJFJ
Poetic Form
Metre 110010 11101 11011 1111 011010 01001 10110101 1101 101011 01101 1010110 11001 1010010 01111 00110101 1101 011010 11001 0010010 11101 110110 1111 110010 11011 1011010 01011 111010 11011 110110 1101 1011110 11111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 783
Words 142
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 19
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 153
Words per stanza (avg) 36
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Submitted by halel on July 13, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
7

Alice Cary

Alice Cary was an American poet, and the older sister of fellow poet Phoebe Cary. more…

All Alice Cary poems | Alice Cary Books

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