Analysis of To A Nightingale
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
O nightingale! how hast thou learnt
The note of the nested dove?
While under thy bower the fern hangs burnt
And no cloud hovers above!
Rich July has many a sky
With splendour dim, that thou mightst hymn,
And make rejoice with thy wondrous voice,
And the thrill of thy wild pervading tone!
But instead of to woo, thou hast learnt to coo:
Thy song is mute at the mellowing fruit,
And the dirge of the flowers is sung by the hours
In silence and twilight alone.
O nightingale! 'tis this, 'tis this
That makes thee mock the dove!
That thou hast past thy marriage bliss,
To know a parent's love.
The waves of fern may fade and burn,
The grasses may fall, the flowers and all,
And the pine-smells o'er the oak dells
Float on their drowsy and odorous wings,
But thou wilt do nothing but coo,
Brimming the nest with thy brooding breast,
'Midst that young throng of future song,
Round whom the Future sings!
Scheme | ABABXXCDEXXD FBFBXXCGEXXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001111 0110101 1101100111 0111001 1111001 1111111 010111101 0011110101 10111111111 1111101001 0011010111010 0100101 11001111 111101 11111101 110101 01111101 0101101001 001110011 1111001001 11111011 100111101 11111101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 906 |
Words | 169 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 351 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 84 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 23 Views
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