Analysis of A November Note
Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)
Why, throstle, do you sing
In this November haze?
Singing for what? for whom?
Deem you that it is Spring,
Or that your lonely lays
Will stave off Winter's gloom?
Then did the bird reply:
``I sing because I know
That Spring will surely come:
That is the reason why,
Though menaced by the snow,
Even now I am not dumb.
``But few are they that hear,
And fewer still that feel,
The meaning of my song,
Until the note be clear,
Re-echoed be the peal,
Early, and late, and long.
``But you have heard and owned
The sound of my refrain,
Yet tentative and low.
Thus, poet, be intoned
Your own foreshadowing strain,
Trusting that some will know:
``That some will know and say,
When greetings of the Spring
Wake Winter from its bed,
This is the self-same lay
We overheard him sing
When dead hearts deemed him dead.''
Scheme | ABCABC DEFDEF XGHXGH IJEIJE KALKAL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11111 010101 101111 111111 111101 111101 110101 110111 111101 110101 110101 1011111 111111 010111 010111 010111 110101 100101 111101 011101 110001 110101 1101001 101111 111101 110101 110111 110111 110111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 784 |
Words | 153 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 124 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 73 Views
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