Analysis of Danube And The Euxine
William Edmondstoune Aytoun 1813 (Edinburgh) – 1865 (Lhanbryde)
'Danube, Danube! wherefore com'st thou
Red and raging to my caves?
Wherefore leap thy swollen waters
Madly through the broken waves?
Wherefore is thy tide so sullied
With a hue unknown to me;
Wherefore dost thou bring pollution
To the old and sacred sea?'
'Ha! rejoice, old Father Euxine!
I am brimming full and red;
Noble tidings do I carry
From my distant channel-bed.
I have been a Christian river
Dull and slow this many a year,
Rolling down my torpid waters
Through a silence morne and drear;
Have not felt the tread of armies
Trampling on my reedy shore;
Have not heard the trumpet calling,
Or the cannon's gladsome roar;
Only listened to the laughter
From the village and the town,
And the church-bells, ever jangling,
As the weary day went down.
So I lay and sorely pondered
On the days long since gone by,
When my old primæval forests
Echoed to the war-man's cry;
When the race of Thor and Odin
Held their battles by my side,
And the blood of man was mingling
Warmly with my chilly tide.
Father Euxine! thou rememb'rest
How I brought thee tribute then-
Swollen corpses, gashed and gory,
Heads and limbs of slaughter'd men?
Father Euxine! be thou joyful!
I am running red once more-
Not with heathen blood, as early,
But with gallant Christian gore!
For the old times are returning,
And the Cross is broken down,
And I hear the tocsin sounding
In the village and the town;
And the glare of burning cities
Soon shall light me on my way-
Ha! my heart is big and jocund
With the draught I drank to-day.
Ha! I feel my strength awakened,
And my brethren shout to me;
Each is leaping red and joyous
To his own awaiting sea.
Rhine and Elbe are plunging downward
Through their wild anarchic land,
Everywhere are Christians falling
By their brother Christians' hand!
Yea, the old times are returning,
And the olden gods are here!
Take my tribute, Father Euxine,
To thy waters dark and drear.
Therefore come I with my torrents,
Shaking castle, crag, and town;
Therefore, with the shout of thunder,
Sweep I herd and herdsman down;
Therefore leap I to thy bosom,
With a loud triumphal roar-
Greet me, greet me, Father Euxine,
I am Christian stream no more!'
Scheme | XABACDED EFDFGXBGHIJIGKJKLMXMENJNCODOXIDIJKJKHPCPXDXDLQJQJXEGXKGKXIEI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101111 1010111 1111010 1010101 1111110 1010111 1111010 1010101 1011101 1110101 10101110 1110101 11101010 10111001 10111010 1010101 11101110 1011101 11101010 101011 10101010 1010001 0011101 1010111 11101010 1011111 1111110 1010111 10111010 1110111 001111100 1011101 10111 1111101 10101010 1011101 1011110 1110111 11101110 1110101 10111010 0011101 0110110 0010001 00111010 1111111 1111101 1011111 11111010 0110111 11101010 1110101 10111010 1110101 1011010 1110101 10111010 0010111 1110101 1110101 1111110 1010101 1101110 111011 1111110 1010101 1111101 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,095 |
Words | 390 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 60 |
Lines Amount | 68 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 844 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 193 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:58 min read
- 56 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Danube And The Euxine" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40406/danube-and-the-euxine>.
Discuss this William Edmondstoune Aytoun poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In