Analysis of Lullaby; by the Sea

Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)



Fair is the castle up on the hill--
     Hushaby, sweet my own!
The night is fair, and the waves are still,
And the wind is singing to you and to me
In this lowly home beside the sea--
     Hushaby, sweet my own!

On yonder hill is store of wealth--
     Hushaby, sweet my own!
And revellers drink to a little one's health;
But you and I bide night and day
For the other love that has sailed away--
     Hushaby, sweet my own!

See not, dear eyes, the forms that creep
     Ghostlike, O my own!
Out of the mists of the murmuring deep;
Oh, see them not and make no cry
Till the angels of death have passed us by--
     Hushaby, sweet my own!

Ah, little they reck of you and me--
     Hushaby, sweet my own!
In our lonely home beside the sea;
They seek the castle up on the hill,
And there they will do their ghostly will--
     Hushaby, O my own!

Here by the sea a mother croons
     "Hushaby, sweet my own!"
In yonder castle a mother swoons
While the angels go down to the misty deep,
Bearing a little one fast asleep--
     Hushaby, sweet my own!


Scheme aBaccB dBdeeB fbfggB cBcaab hBhffB
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (27%)
Metre 110101101 1111 011100111 00111011011 011010101 1111 11011111 1111 01001101011 11011101 1010111101 1111 11110111 1111 1101101001 11110111 1010111111 1111 110111101 1111 0101010101 110101101 011111101 1111 11010101 1111 010100101 10101110101 100101101 1111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,024
Words 200
Sentences 11
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 150
Words per stanza (avg) 39
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
55

Eugene Field

Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. more…

All Eugene Field poems | Eugene Field Books

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