Analysis of Life Returning
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 1826 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) – 1887 (Shortlands, London)
O LIFE, dear life, with sunbeam finger touching
This poor damp brow, or flying freshly by
On wings of mountain wind, or tenderly
In links of visionary embraces clutching
Me from the yawning grave--
Can I believe thou yet hast power to save?
I see thee, O my life, like phantom giant
Stand on the hill-top, large against the dawn,
Upon the night-black clouds a picture drawn
Of aspect wonderful, with hope defiant,
And so majestic grown
I scarce discern the image as my own.
Those mists furl off, and through the vale resplendent
I see the pathway of my years prolong;
Not without labor, yet for labor strong;
Not without pain, but pain whose touch transcendent
By love's divinest laws
Heart unto heart, and all hearts upwards, draws.
O life, O love, your diverse tones bewildering
Make silence, like two meeting waves of sound;
I dream of wifely white arms, lisp of children--
Never of ended wars,
Save kisses scaling honorable scars.
No more of battles! Save the combat glorious
To which all earth and heaven may witness stand;
The sword of the Spirit taking in my hand
I shall go forth, since in new fields victorious
The King yet grants that I
His servant live, or His good soldier die.
Scheme | ABXACC DEEDFF DGGDHH AXXXX IJJIBB |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111010 1111110101 1111011100 01110001010 110101 11011111011 11111111010 1101110101 0101110101 1110011010 010101 1101010111 11110101010 110111101 1011011101 10111111010 1111 1101011101 111110110100 1101110111 1111111110 101101 1101010001 111101010100 11110101101 01101010011 111110110100 011111 1101111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,212 |
Words | 216 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 5, 6 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 188 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 79 Views
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"Life Returning" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8028/life-returning>.
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