Analysis of New Year Song
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
WE climb the hill; the mist conceals
That valley where we could not stay;
Surely this hill's crest, gained, reveals
The glory of the sunlit day.
The hill is climbed. Still shadow-land--
Still darkling looms another hill.
Oh, weary feet!--climb that to find
A new ascent, 'mid shadows still!
We dare not stop or think of rest,
This one hill may be all that lies
Between us and our souls' desire--
The splendour of the eastern skies.
Through long long lives we till and tend,
Sow, weed, and water, all in vain;
Without the flower we looked to find,
Each year springs blooms and dies again.
Bowed down with our unanswered prayers,
Our face averted from our past,
We watch each year grow green, and cry,
'Surely this brings our flower at last!'
Failure on failure! What! tired out?
Too tired to live? Heart, dare you die
When this new year may bud and bear
Your longed-for flower of Liberty?
Scheme | ABABXCDCXEXE XXDXXFGFXGXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 11011111 10111101 0101011 0111111 1110101 11011111 0101111 11111111 11111111 0110101010 0110101 11111101 11010101 010101111 11110101 11110101 1010101101 11111101 1011101011 101101101 110111111 11111101 111101100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 895 |
Words | 164 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 342 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 80 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 66 Views
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"New Year Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8877/new-year-song>.
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