Analysis of Longing
Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)
The hills slope down to the valley, the streams run down to the sea,
And my heart, my heart, O far one! sets and strains towards thee.
But only the feet of the mountain are felt by the rim of the plain,
And the source and soul of the hurrying stream reach not the calling main.
The dawn is sick for the daylight, the morning yearns for the noon,
And the twilight sighs for the evening star and the rising of the moon.
But the dawn and the daylight never were seen in the self-same skies,
And the gloaming dies of its own desire when the moon and the stars arise.
The Springtime calls to the Summer, ``Oh, mingle your life with mine,''
And Summer to Autumn 'plaineth low, ``Must the harvest be only thine?''
But the nightingale goes when the swallow comes, ere the leaf is the blossom fled;
And when Autumn sits on her golden sheaves, then the reign of the rose is dead.
And hunger and thirst, and wail and want, are lost in the empty air,
And the heavenly spirit vainly pines for the touch of the earthly fair.
And the hills slope down to the valley, the streams run down to the sea,
And my heart, my heart, O far one! sets and strains towards thee.
Scheme | aAbb ccdd eeff ggaA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 011110100111101 01111111101011 11001101011101101 00101101001110101 01111010101101 0011101010010101 101001100100111 0010111101010100101 01110101101111 0101101110101101 1010011010110110101 011011010110110111 0100101011100101 001001010110110101 0011110100111101 01111111101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,142 |
Words | 225 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 56 |
Words per line (avg) | 14 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 223 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 96 Views
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"Longing" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/755/longing>.
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