Analysis of Faithful In Vanity-Fair
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 1826 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) – 1887 (Shortlands, London)
THE great human whirlpool--'t is seething and seething:
On! No time for shrieking out--scarcely for breathing:
All toiling and moiling, some feebler, some bolder,
But each sees a fiend-face grim over his shoulder:
Thus merrily live they in Vanity-fair.
The great human caldron--it boils ever higher:
Some drowning, some sinking; while some, stealing nigher
Athirst, come and lean o'er its outermost verges,
Or touch, as a child's feet touch, timorous, the surges--
One plunge--lo! more souls swamped in Vanity-fair.
Let's live while we live; for to-morrow all's over:
Drink deep, drunkard bold; and kiss close, maddened lover;
Smile, hypocrite, smile; it is no such hard labor,
While each stealthy hand stabs the heart of his neighbor--
Faugh! Fear not: we've no hearts in Vanity-fair.
The mad crowd divides and then soon closes after:
Afar towers the pyre. Through the shouting and laughter
'What new sport is this?' gasps a reveller, half turning.--
'One Faithful, meek fool, who is led to the burning,
He cumbered us sorely in Vanity-fair.
'A dreamer, who held every man for a brother;
A coward, who, smit on one cheek, gave the other;
A fool, whose blind soul took as truth all our lying,
Too simple to live, so best fitted for dying:
Sure, such are best swept out of Vanity-fair.'
SILENCE! though the flames arise and quiver:
Silence! though the crowd howls on forever:
Silence! Through this fiery purgatory
God is leading up a soul to glory.
See, the white lips with no moans are trembling,
Hate of foes or plaint of friends' dissembling;
If sighs come--his patient prayers outlive them,
'Lord--these know not what they do. Forgive them!'
Thirstier still the roaring flames are glowing;
Fainter in his ear the laughter growing;
Brief will last the fierce and fiery trial,
Angel welcomes drown the earth denial.
Now the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy,
Clasp him close. Down drops the quivering body,
While through harmless flames ecstatic flying
Shoots the beauteous soul. This, this is dying.
Lo, the opening sky with splendor rifted,
Lo, the palm-branch for his hands uplifted:
Lo, the immortal chariot, cloud-descending,
And its legioned angels close attending.
Let his poor dust mingle with the embers
While the crowds sweep on and none remembers:
Saints unnumbered through the Infinite Glory,
Praising God, recount the martyr's story.
Scheme | AABBC BBXXC BBBBC BBAAC BBAAC BBDD AAEE AAFF DDAA GGAA HHDD |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011011110010 111110110110 1100111110 111011110110 11001101001 01101111010 11011011101 11011011010 1110111100010 11111101001 111111110110 11101011110 11011111110 111011011110 11111101001 011010111010 01100101010010 1111110100110 110111111010 1111001001 0101110011010 010111111010 0111111111010 110111110110 11111111001 1010101010 1010111010 1011100100 1110101110 10111111100 1111111010 111110111 1111111011 110101110 1001101010 11101010010 1010101010 101001101010 11111010010 1110101010 101111110 1010011101 1011111100 100101001010 011101010 1111101010 1011101010 111010010 101010110 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,362 |
Words | 391 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 167 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:58 min read
- 94 Views
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"Faithful In Vanity-Fair" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8011/faithful-in-vanity-fair>.
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