Analysis of To An Oak At Newstead
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
Young Oak! when I planted thee deep in the ground,
I hoped that thy days would be longer than mine;
That thy dark‑waving branches would flourish around,
And ivy thy trunk with its mantle entwine.
Such, such was my hope, when in infancy's
On the land of my fathers I rear'd thee with pride;
They are past, and I water thy stem with my tears,
Thy decay not the weeds that surround thee can hide.
I left thee, my Oak, and, since that fatal hour,
A stranger has dwelt in the hall of my sire;
Till manhood shall crown me, not mine is the power,
But his, whose neglect may have bade thee expire.
Oh! hardy thou went--even now little care
Might revive thy young head, and thy wounds gently heal:
But thou went not fated affection to share--
For who could suppose that a stranger would feel!
Ah, droop not, my Oak! lift thy head for a while;
Ere twice round yon Glory this planet shall run,
The hand of thy Master will teach thee to smile,
When Infancy's years of probation are done.
Oh, live then, my Oak! tow'r aloft from the weeds,
That clog thy young growth, and assist thy decay,
For still in thy bosom are life's early seeds,
And still may thy branches their beauty display.
Oh! yet, if maturity's years may be thine,
Though I shall lie low in the cavern of death,
On thy leaves yet the day‑beam of ages may shine,
Uninjured by time, or the rude winter's breath.
For centuries still may thy boughs lightly wave
O'er the Gorse of thy lord in thy canopy laid;
While the branches thus gratefully shelter his grave,
The chief who survives may recline in thy shade.
And as he, with his boys, shall revisit this spot,
He will tell them is whispers more softly to tread.
Oh! surely, by these I shall ne'er be forgot;
Remembrance still hallows the dust of the dead.
And here, will they say, when in life's glowing prime,
Perhaps he has pour'd forth his young simple lay,
And here must he sleep, till the moments of time
Are lost in the hours of Eternity's day.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EEEX FGFG HIHI CJCJ BKBK LMLM NONO PJPJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11111011001 11111111011 111101011001 01011111001 11111101 101111011111 111011011111 101101101111 111110111010 010110011110 11111111010 11101111101 11011101101 101111011101 11111001011 11101101011 11111111101 11111011011 01111011111 111101011 111111101101 11111001101 11011011101 01111011001 11111111 11111001011 111101111011 01011101101 11001111101 1001111011001 101011001011 01101101011 011111101011 111111011011 11011111101 01011001101 01111101101 01111111101 01111101011 110010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,935 |
Words | 370 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 151 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 137 Views
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"To An Oak At Newstead" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15262/to-an-oak-at-newstead>.
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