Analysis of Poetic Sketches. Sketch Fifth
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
"Glad greetings, tender partings, which upstay
The drooping mind of absence."
Wordsworth
“May never was the month of love,
For May is full of flowers;
‘Tis rather April, wet by kind,
For love is full of showers."
Robert Southwell
The palms flung down their shadow, and the air
Was rich with breathings of the citron bloom;
All the so radiant children of the south,
The gold and silver jessamines, the rose
In crimson glory, there were gathered—sounds
Of music too from waterfalls, the hymn
By bees sung to the sweet flowers as they fed;
The earth seemed in its infancy, the sky,
The fair blue sky, was glowing as the hopes
Of childish happiness; it was a land
Of blossoming and sunshine.—One is here,
To whom the earth is colourless, the heaven
Clouded and cold: his heart is far away:
The palms have not to him the majesty
Of his own land's green oaks, the roses here
Are not so sweet as those wild ones that grow
In his own valley; he would rather have
One pale blue violet than all the buds
That Indian suns have kist: his heart is full
Of gentle recollections, and those thoughts
Which can but hold communion with themselves,
The heart's best dreaming. When the wanderer
Calls up those tender memories which are
So precious to absence, those dear links
That distance cannot sunder—come there not
Such visionings, young Evelin, o'er thy soul?
The dwelling of thy childhood, the dark hill
Above thy native valley, down whose side,
Like a swift arrow, shot the foaming stream,
The music of the lark, which every morn
Waked thy light slumber, and a fairy shape,
Whose starry eyes are far too bright for tears,
Tho' tears are in them, and whose coral lip
Wears still its spring-day smile? Altho' "Farewell,"
That saddest of sad sounds, is lingering there,
Are not these present to thee? . . . Evelin was
A soldier, and he left his home with all
The high romance of youth. Beloved, and well
His heart repaid that love; but there were clouds,
Low worldly clouds, upon affection's star:
He sought to clear them—what was toil, that led
To fame, to fortune, and Elizabeth! - - -
- - - There's music in that bower, where the wild rose
Has clung about the ash,—such plaining tones
As the winds waken: there a harp is breathing,
And o'er it leans its mistress, as she lived
Upon those melancholy sounds: her head
Is bent, as if in pain, upon those strings,
And the gold shadows of her long hair veil
The white hand which almost unconsciously
In melody is wandering: that fair hand
Is not more snowy than the cheek it presses;
That cheek does tell the history of the heart—
Tells, that across the bright May hours of youth
Bleak clouds have past, and left behind a trace
Bordering on sadness, but withal so sweet
You scarce might call it sorrow; and that smile
But speaks of patient mild endurance, soft
And kind and gentle thoughts, which well become
A breaking heart, whose throbs will soon be still
In the so lonely but so quiet grave.
Yes, she was dying! tho' so young, so fair,
Her days were number'd: and if e'er her cheek
Wore the rich colour it once had, 't was but
The sad and lovely herald of decay,
The death rose, that but blossoms on the tomb.
Her's was a heart which, when it once had loved,
Could but ill brook the many trembling fears
That absent love must know—her fate was like
A star, o'er which the clouds steal one by one,
Scarce seen, scarce noticed, till the sweet light's gone. - - - - -
- - - She is within his arms, and they have met,
Evelin and his Elizabeth! a flush
Of beautiful delight is on her face;
He clasped her silently, and his dark eye
Is filled with tears. Ah, tears like these are worth
A life of smiles,—at length he gently said,
"Elizabeth, my own love!"—it was heaven
To think that she again could hear him breathe
That dear dear name; she answered not, but lay
Upon his bosom motionless. He looked
On her sweet face—'twas fixed and pale in death!
Scheme | AXB XCACD EFXGXXAHXAIJKAIXXXXXXXLXAXMAXXXXXDEXXDXLAXGXXAAXXXAXAXNAXAXMXEXAKFAXXJXAXNHBAJXKAX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (21%) |
Metre | 11010111 0101110 10 11010111 1111110 11010111 1111110 101 011111001 111110101 10110010101 01010101 0101010101 110111001 11110110111 0110110001 0111110101 1101001101 110001111 110111010 1001111101 0111110100 1111110101 1111111111 0111011101 1111001101 11001111111 110010011 1111010101 0111010100 1111010011 110110111 1101010111 11111011 010111011 0111010111 1011010101 01010111001 1111000101 1101111111 1110101101 11111111 11011111001 111101111 0100111111 0101110101 1101111101 11010111 1111111111 1111000100 11001101011 110101111 10110101110 01011110111 011100101 1111010111 001110111 01111100 01001100111 11110101110 11110100101 11010111011 1111010101 1001101111 1111110011 1111011001 0101011101 0101111111 0011011101 1111011111 01010011001 1011111111 0101010101 0111110101 1101111111 11110101001 1101110111 01101011111 1111010111 1101110111 101010001 1100011101 1101000111 1111111111 0111111101 01001111110 1111011111 1111110111 0111010011 1011110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 3,943 |
Words | 722 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 5, 82 |
Lines Amount | 90 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,011 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 238 |
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"Poetic Sketches. Sketch Fifth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/52712/poetic-sketches.-sketch-fifth>.
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