Analysis of Exhortation: Summer 1919
Through the pregnant universe rumbles life's terrific thunder,
And Earth's bowels quake with terror; strange and terrible storms break,
Lightning-torches flame the heavens, kindling souls of men, thereunder:
Africa! long ages sleeping, O my motherland, awake!
In the East the clouds glow crimson with the new dawn that is breaking,
And its golden glory fills the western skies.
O my brothers and my sisters, wake! arise!
For the new birth rends the old earth and the very dead are waking,
Ghosts are turned flesh, throwing off the grave's disguise,
And the foolish, even children, are made wise;
For the big earth groans in travail for the strong, new world in making--
O my brothers, dreaming for dim centuries,
Wake from sleeping; to the East turn, turn your eyes!
Oh the night is sweet for sleeping, but the shining day's for working;
Sons of the seductive night, for your children's children's sake,
From the deep primeval forests where the crouching leopard's lurking,
Lift your heavy-lidded eyes, Ethiopia! awake!
In the East the clouds glow crimson with the new dawn that is breaking,
And its golden glory fills the western skies.
O my brothers and my sisters, wake! arise!
For the new birth rends the old earth and the very dead are waking,
Ghosts have turned flesh, throwing off the grave's disguise,
And the foolish, even children, are made wise;
For the big earth groans in travail for the strong, new world in making--
O my brothers, dreaming for long centuries,
Wake from sleeping; to the East turn, turn your eyes!
Scheme | abab CDDCdDCeD cbcb CDDCdDCeD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101010101010 011011101010011 10101010101111 10011010111001 0010111010111110 01101010101 11100110101 1011101100101110 11111010101 00101010111 1011100110111010 11101011100 11101011111 1011111010101110 11001011110101 101010101010110 111011010001 0010111010111110 01101010101 11100110101 1011101100101110 11111010101 00101010111 1011100110111010 11101011100 11101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,536 |
Words | 261 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 9, 4, 9 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 301 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 148 Views
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"Exhortation: Summer 1919" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6853/exhortation%3A-summer-1919>.
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