Analysis of The Rainbow
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
After the tempest in the sky
How sweet yon rainbow to the eye!
Come, my Matilda, now while some
Few drops of rain are yet to come,
In this honeysuckle bower
Safely sheltered from the shower,
We may count the colours o'er.-
Seven there are, there are no more;
Each in each so finely blended,
Where they begin, or where are ended,
The finest eye can scarcely see.
A fixed thing it seems to be;
But, while we speak, see how it glides
Away, and now observe it hides
Half of its perfect arch-now we
Scarce any part of it can see.
What is colour? If I were
A natural philosopher,
I would tell you what does make
This meteor every colour take:
But an unlearned eye may view
Nature's rare sights, and love them too.
Whenever I a rainbow see,
Each precious tint is dear to me;
For every colour find I there,
Which flowers, which fields, which ladies wear:
My favourite green, the grass's hue,
And the fine deep violet-blue,
And the pretty pale blue-bell,
And the rose I love so well,
All the wondrous variations
Of the tulips, pinks, carnations,
This woodbine here both flower and leaf.
'Tis a truth that's past belief,
That every flower and every tree,
And every living thing we see,
Every face which we espy,
Every cheek and every eye,
In all their tints, in every shade,
Are from the rainbow's colours made.
Scheme | AABBCCCDEEFFGGFFCCHHIIFFJJIIKKLLMMFFFANN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (35%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 10010001 1111101 11010111 11111111 0110010 10101010 1110110 10111111 10111010 110111110 01011101 0111111 11111111 01010111 11101111 11011111 111110 01000100 1111111 110010011 111111 10110111 0101011 11011111 11001111 110111101 111011 00111001 0010111 0011111 1010010 10101010 11111001 1011101 11001001001 010010111 10011110 100101001 011101001 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,270 |
Words | 244 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,006 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 241 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 251 Views
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"The Rainbow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5408/the-rainbow>.
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