Analysis of The Evening Light
Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)
I
Angels their silvery trumpets blow,
At dawn, to greet the Morning Glow,
And mortals lift adoring eyes
To see the glorious sun arise.
Then, winged by Faith, and spurred by Hope
Youth scans the hill, youth scales the slope.
Its pulses bound, its thoughts exult,
It finds no danger difficult,
Quickens its pace, disdaining ease
Victor before it comes and sees,
Feeling the Universe its own,
The Sovereign of a Self-made Throne.
II
Each hope fulfilled, obtained each prayer,
We glory in the Noonday Glare.
Welcome the blinding heat of strife,
Deeming resistance part of life.
We deal the blow, return the stroke,
Fighting our way through dust and smoke,
Until, our battle-banner furled,
We tower above a conquered World;
Whether one leads mankind along
By gift of speech or grace of song,
Seizes by forceful hand the helm,
Or adds an Empire to the Realm,
Confronts the sun with forehead bare,
Exulting in the Noonday Glare.
III
But, as the lengthening shadows glide
Silent towards the eventide,
And dew baptizes leaf and flower
In twilight's sanctuary hour,
A sacred Something haunts the air,
Tender as love, devout as prayer,
And in the lofty dome afar
Glimmers one bright outriding star,
Announcing to the watchful sight
Coming battalions of the Night.
Then Noonday Glare and Morning Glow
Fade into shadowy Long-ago.
One feels Earth's vain ambitions fade
Into the vanished dust they made.
All that the glow of dawn foretold,
And all the glare of noon unrolled,
Seem nothing to the quiet joy
No clamour mars, no cares destroy,
'Twixt restless day and restful night,
That cometh with the Evening Light.
Scheme | ABBCCDDEEFFGG AHHIIJJEXKKLLHH AXEMMHHNNOOBBPP XEQQOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 101100101 11110101 01010101 110100101 11110111 11011101 11011101 11110100 10110101 10011101 1001011 01010111 1 11010111 1100011 10010111 1010111 11010101 101011101 011010101 110010101 10111101 11111111 10110101 111100101 01011101 0100011 1 11010011 100101 0111010 0110010 01010101 10110111 00010101 101111 01010101 10010101 1110101 101100101 11110101 01010111 11011101 0101111 11010101 1111101 11010101 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,560 |
Words | 274 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 15, 15, 6 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 319 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 68 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 140 Views
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"The Evening Light" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/804/the-evening-light>.
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