Analysis of Advent
Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
This Advent moon shines cold and clear,
These Advent nights are long;
Our lamps have burned year after year
And still their flame is strong.
'Watchman, what of the night?' we cry,
Heart-sick with hope deferred:
'No speaking signs are in the sky,'
Is still the watchman's word.
The Porter watches at the gate,
The servants watch within;
The watch is long betimes and late,
The prize is slow to win.
'Watchman, what of the night?' But still
His answer sounds the same:
'No daybreak tops the utmost hill,
Nor pale our lamps of flame.'
One to another hear them speak
The patient virgins wise:
'Surely He is not far to seek'—
'All night we watch and rise.'
'The days are evil looking back,
The coming days are dim;
Yet count we not His promise slack,
But watch and wait for Him.'
One with another, soul with soul,
They kindle fire from fire:
'Friends watch us who have touched the goal.'
'They urge us, come up higher.'
'With them shall rest our waysore feet,
With them is built our home,
With Christ.'—'They sweet, but He most sweet,
Sweeter than honeycomb.'
There no more parting, no more pain,
The distant ones brought near,
The lost so long are found again,
Long lost but longer dear:
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,
Nor heart conceived that rest,
With them our good things long deferred,
With Jesus Christ our Best.
We weep because the night is long,
We laugh for day shall rise,
We sing a slow contented song
And knock at Paradise.
Weeping we hold Him fast, Who wept
For us, we hold Him fast;
And will not let Him go except
He bless us first or last.
Weeping we hold Him fast to-night;
We will not let Him go
Till daybreak smite our wearied sight
And summer smite the snow:
Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove
Shall coo the livelong day;
Then He shall say, 'Arise, My love,
My fair one, come away.'
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKLKL MNMNOPOP XAXADQDQ BJBXRSRS TUTUVWVW |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 11111 101111101 011111 10110111 111101 11011001 11011 01010101 010101 0111101 011111 10110111 110101 111011 1110111 11010111 010101 10111111 111101 01110101 010111 11111101 110111 11010111 11010110 11111101 1111110 11111011 1111101 11111111 10110 11110111 010111 01111101 111101 11111111 110111 111011101 1101101 11010111 111111 11010101 01110 10111111 111111 01111101 111111 10111111 111111 11110101 010101 11110111 11011 11110111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,772 |
Words | 349 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 198 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 173 Views
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"Advent" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5726/advent>.
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