Analysis of Thunder In The Garden

William Morris 1834 (Walthamstow) – 1896 (London)



When the boughs of the garden hang heavy with rain
And the blackbird reneweth his song,
And the thunder departing yet rolleth again,
I remember the ending of wrong.

When the day that was dusk while his death was aloof
Is ending wide-gleaming and strange
For the clearness of all things beneath the world’s roof,
I call back the wild chance and the change.

For once we twain sat through the hot afternoon
While the rain held aloof for a while,
Till she, the soft-clad, for the glory of June
Changed all with the change of her smile.

For her smile was of longing, no longer of glee,
And her fingers, entwined with mine own,
With caresses unquiet sought kindness of me
For the gift that I never had known.

Then down rushed the rain, and the voice of the thunder
Smote dumb all the sound of the street,
And I to myself was grown nought but a wonder,
As she leaned down my kisses to meet.

That she craved for my lips that had craved her so often,
And the hand that had trembled to touch,
That the tears filled her eyes I had hoped not to soften
In this world was a marvel too much.

It was dusk ’mid the thunder, dusk e’en as the night,
When first brake out our love like the storm,
But no night-hour was it, and back came the light
While our hands with each other were warm.

And her smile killed with kisses, came back as at first
As she rose up and led me along,
And out to the garden, where nought was athirst,
And the blackbird renewing his song.

Earth’s fragrance went with her, as in the wet grass,
Her feet little hidden were set;
She bent down her head, ’neath the roses to pass,
And her arm with the lily was wet.

In the garden we wandered while day waned apace
And the thunder was dying aloof;
Till the moon o’er the minster-wall lifted his face,
And grey gleamed out the lead of the roof.

Then we turned from the blossoms, and cold were they grown:
In the trees the wind westering moved;
Till over the threshold back fluttered her gown,
And in the dark house was I loved.


Scheme XAXA BCBC DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLM XAIA NONO PBPB GXXX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (91%)
Metre 101101011011 0010111 00100101101 101001011 101111111101 11011001 10111101011 111011001 1111110101 101101101 11011101011 11101101 101111011011 001001111 1010111011 101111011 111010011010 11101101 01111111010 111111011 1111111110110 001111011 1011011111110 011101011 111101011101 1111101101 111101101101 1101111001 001111011111 111101101 0110101111 001001011 11011010011 01101001 11101101011 001101011 001011011101 001011001 101101011011 011101101 111101001011 0010111 1100111001 00011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,953
Words 382
Sentences 12
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 44
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 140
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:54 min read
56

William Morris

William Morris, Mayor of Galway, 1527-28. more…

All William Morris poems | William Morris Books

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