Analysis of A Medley: O Swallow (The Princess)
Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809 – 1892
O Swallow, Swallow, flying, flying South,
Fly to her, and fall upon her gilded eaves,
And tell her, tell her, what I tell to thee.
O tell her, Swallow, thou that knowest each,
That bright and fierce and fickle is the South,
And dark and true and tender is the North.
O Swallow, Swallow, if I could follow, and light
Upon her lattice, I would pipe and trill,
And cheep and twitter twenty million loves.
O were I thou that she might take me in,
And lay me on her bosom, and her heart
Would rock the snowy cradle till I died.
Why lingereth she to clothe her heart with love,
Delaying as the tender ash delays
To clothe herself, when all the woods are green?
O tell her, Swallow, that thy brood is flown:
Say to her, I do but wanton in the South,
But in the North long since my nest is made.
O tell her, brief is life but love is long,
And brief the sun of summer in the North,
And brief the moon of beauty in the South.
O Swallow, flying from the golden woods,
Fly to her, and pipe and woo her, and make her mine,
And tell her, tell her, that I follow thee.
Scheme | AXBXACXXX XXX XXX XAX XCA XXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010101 11001010101 0101011111 110101111 1101010101 0101010101 110101111001 0101011101 0101010101 1011111110 0111010001 1101010111 111110111 0101010101 1101110111 1101011111 11011110001 1001111111 1101111111 0101110001 0101110001 1101010101 110010100101 0101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,046 |
Words | 216 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on May 04, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 46 Views
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