Analysis of Power Of Music

William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)



AN Orpheus! an Orpheus! yes, Faith may grow bold,
And take to herself all the wonders of old;--
Near the stately Pantheon you'll meet with the same
In the street that from Oxford hath borrowed its name.

His station is there; and he works on the crowd,
He sways them with harmony merry and loud;
He fills with his power all their hearts to the brim--
Was aught ever heard like his fiddle and him?

What an eager assembly! what an empire is this!
The weary have life, and the hungry have bliss;
The mourner is cheered, and the anxious have rest;
And the guilt-burthened soul is no longer opprest.

As the Moon brightens round her the clouds of the night,
So He, where he stands, is a centre of light;
It gleams on the face, there, of dusky-browed Jack,
And the pale-visaged Baker's, with basket on back.

That errand-bound 'Prentice was passing in haste--
What matter! he's caught--and his time runs to waste;
The Newsman is stopped, though he stops on the fret;
And the half-breathless Lamplighter--he's in the net!

The Porter sits down on the weight which he bore;
The Lass with her barrow wheels hither her store;--
If a thief could be here he might pilfer at ease;
She sees the Musician, 'tis all that she sees!

He stands, backed by the wall;--he abates not his din
His hat gives him vigour, with boons dropping in,
From the old and the young, from the poorest; and there!
The one-pennied Boy has his penny to spare.

O blest are the hearers, and proud be the hand
Of the pleasure it spreads through so thankful a band;
I am glad for him, blind as he is!--all the while
If they speak 'tis to praise, and they praise with a smile.

That tall Man, a giant in bulk and in height,
Not an inch of his body is free from delight;
Can he keep himself still, if he would? oh, not he!
The music stirs in him like wind through a tree.

Mark that Cripple who leans on his crutch; like a tower
That long has leaned forward, leans hour after hour!--
That Mother, whose spirit in fetters is bound,
While she dandles the Babe in her arms to the sound.

Now, coaches and chariots! roar on like a stream;
Here are twenty souls happy as souls in a dream:
They are deaf to your murmurs--they care not for you,
Nor what ye are flying, nor what ye pursue!


Scheme AABB CCDD EEXA FFGG HHII JJKK LLMM NNOO FFPP QQRR SSTT
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1100110011111 01101101011 10101011101 00111101111 11011011101 11111001001 111110111101 11101111001 11100101110011 01011001011 01011001011 0011111101 101101001101 11111101011 1110111111 00111011011 11011011001 11011011111 0111111101 00110101001 01011101111 01101011001 101111111011 11001011111 111101101111 1111111100 101001101001 0111111011 11101001101 101011111001 111111111101 111111011101 11101001001 111111011101 111011111111 01010111101 1110111111010 1111101101010 11011001011 11101001101 110010011101 111011011001 111111011111 11111011101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 2,197
Words 426
Sentences 23
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 44
Letters per line (avg) 39
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 155
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

2:09 min read
154

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was the husband of Eva Bartok. more…

All William Wordsworth poems | William Wordsworth Books

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