Analysis of By The Fireside : Gaspar Becerra
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
By his evening fire the artist
Pondered o'er his secret shame;
Baffled, weary, and disheartened,
Still he mused, and dreamed of fame.
'T was an image of the Virgin
That had tasked his utmost skill;
But, alas! his fair ideal
Vanished and escaped him still.
From a distant Eastern island
Had the precious wood been brought
Day and night the anxious master
At his toil untiring wrought;
Till, discouraged and desponding,
Sat he now in shadows deep,
And the day's humiliation
Found oblivion in sleep.
Then a voice cried, 'Rise, O master!
From the burning brand of oak
Shape the thought that stirs within thee!'
And the startled artist woke,--
Woke, and from the smoking embers
Seized and quenched the glowing wood;
And therefrom he carved an image,
And he saw that it was good.
O thou sculptor, painter, poet!
Take this lesson to thy heart:
That is best which lieth nearest;
Shape from that thy work of art.
Scheme | ABCB XDXD CEFE GHXH FGXG XIXI XJAJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111010010 10101101 10100010 1110111 111101010 111111 1011101 1000111 10101010 1010111 10101010 11111 101001 111011 0010010 1010001 10111110 1010111 10111011 0010101 10101010 1010101 0111110 0111111 11101010 1110111 1111110 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 890 |
Words | 163 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 76 Views
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