Analysis of The Dungeon
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
(Act V, scene i)
And this place our forefathers made for man !
This is the process of our Love and Wisdom,
To each poor brother who offends against us--
Most innocent, perhaps--and what if guilty ?
Is this the only cure ? Merciful God !
Each pore and natural outlet shrivell'd up
By Ignorance and parching Poverty,
His energies roll back upon his heart,
And stagnate and corrupt ; till chang'd to poison,
They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot ;
Then we call in our pamper'd mountebanks--
And this is their best cure ! uncomforted
And friendless Solitude, Groaning and Tears,
And savage Faces, at the clanking hour,
Seen through the steams and vapour of his dungeon,
By the lamp's dismal twilight ! So he lies
Circled with evil, till his very soul
Unmoulds its essence, hopelessly deform'd
By sights of ever more deformity !
With other ministrations thou, O Nature !
Healest thy wandering and distemper'd child :
Thou pourest on him thy soft influences,
Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets,
Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters,
Till he relent, and can no more endure
To be a jarring and a dissonant thing,
Amid this general dance and minstrelsy ;
But, bursting into tears, wins back his way,
His angry spirit heal'd and harmoniz'd
By the benignant touch of Love and Beauty.
Scheme | X XXABXXBXCXABXDCXXXB DXXXXXXAXXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 0111010111 11011101010 11110101011 11000101110 1101011001 110100111 110001100 1100110111 0100111110 11111101011 111010101 0111111 01101001 01010101010 1101011110 101101111 1011011101 111010001 1111010100 1100101110 11100011 111111100 1101110101 11001101010 1101011101 11010001001 011100101 1100111111 110101010 101111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,286 |
Words | 221 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 19, 11 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 340 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 77 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 175 Views
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"The Dungeon" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34341/the-dungeon>.
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