Analysis of A Legacy
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Friend of my many years!
When the great silence falls, at last, on me,
Let me not leave, to pain and sadden thee,
A memory of tears,
But pleasant thoughts alone.
Of one who was thy friendship's honored guest
And drank the wine of consolation pressed
From sorrows of thy own.
I leave with thee a sense
Of hands upheld and trials rendered less,
The unselfish joy which is to helpfulness
Its own great recompense.
The knowledge that from thine,
As from the garments of the Master, stole
Calmness and strength, the virtue which makes whole
And heals without a sign.
Yea more, the assurance strong
That love, which fails of perfect utterance here,
Lives on to fill the heavenly atmosphere
With its immortal song.
Scheme | ABBCDEEDFGAFHIIHJKLJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 111101 1011011111 1111110101 010011 110101 111111101 010110101 110111 111101 1101010101 0111111 11110 010111 1101010101 1001010111 010101 1100101 11111011001 1111010010 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 696 |
Words | 127 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 563 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 125 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 134 Views
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"A Legacy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22815/a-legacy>.
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