Analysis of To A Child
Christopher Morley 1890 (Haverford) – 1957
The greatest poem ever known
Is one all poets have outgrown:
The poetry, innate, untold,
Of being only four years old.
Still young enough to be a part
Of Nature's great impulsive heart,
Born comrade of bird, beast, and tree
And unselfconscious as the bee-
And yet with lovely reason skilled
Each day new paradise to build;
Elate explorer of each sense,
Without dismay, without pretense!
In your unstained transparent eyes
There is no conscience, no surprise:
Life's queer conundrums you accept,
Your strange divinity still kept.
Being, that now absorbs you, all
Harmonious, unit, integral,
Will shred into perplexing bits,-
Oh, contradictions of the wits!
And Life, that sets all things in rhyme,
may make you poet, too, in time-
But there were days, O tender elf,
When you were Poetry itself!
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH XXII JJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 01010101 1111011 01000101 11010111 11011101 11010101 1111101 01101 01110101 1111011 01010111 01010101 01010101 11110101 111101 11010011 10110111 010010100 11010101 1010101 01111101 11110101 11011101 11010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 796 |
Words | 136 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 104 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 364 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"To A Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6091/to-a-child>.
Discuss this Christopher Morley poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In