Analysis of Ultima Thule: Robert Burns
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
I see amid the fields of Ayr
A ploughman, who, in foul and fair,
Sings at his task
So clear, we know not if it is
The laverock's song we hear, or his,
Nor care to ask.
For him the ploughing of those fields
A more ethereal harvest yields
Than sheaves of grain;
Songs flush with purple bloom the rye,
The plover's call, the curlew's cry,
Sing in his brain.
Touched by his hand, the wayside weed
Becomes a flower; the lowliest reed
Beside the stream
Is clothed with beauty; gorse and grass
And heather, where his footsteps pass,
The brighter seem.
He sings of love, whose flame illumes
The darkness of lone cottage rooms;
He feels the force,
The treacherous undertow and stress
Of wayward passions, and no less
The keen remorse.
At moments, wrestling with his fate,
His voice is harsh, but not with hate;
The brushwood, hung
Above the tavern door, lets fall
Its bitter leaf, its drop of gall
Upon his tongue.
But still the music of his song
Rises o'er all, elate and strong;
Its master-chords
Are Manhood, Freedom, Brotherhood,
Its discords but an interlude
Between the words.
And then to die so young and leave
Unfinished what he might achieve!
Yet better sure
Is this, than wandering up and down
An old man in a country town,
Infirm and poor.
For now he haunts his native land
As an immortal youth; his hand
Guides every plough;
He sits beside each ingle-nook,
His voice is in each rushing brook,
Each rustling bough.
His presence haunts this room to-night,
A form of mingled mist and light
From that far coast.
Welcome beneath this roof of mine!
Welcome! this vacant chair is thine,
Dear guest and ghost!
Scheme | XXABBA CCDEED FFGHHG BXIJJI KKLMML NNXXXX OOXPPX QQRSSR TTUVVU |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 0110101 1111 11111111 0111111 1111 1101111 010100101 1111 11110101 011011 1011 1111011 01010011 0101 11110101 0101111 0101 1111111 01011101 1101 01001001 11010011 0101 11010111 11111111 011 01010111 11011111 0111 11010111 101010101 1101 111010 111110 0101 01111101 01011101 1101 111100101 11100101 0101 11111101 11010111 11001 11011101 11101101 1101 11011111 01110101 1111 10011111 10110111 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,567 |
Words | 292 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 140 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 146 Views
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"Ultima Thule: Robert Burns" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18989/ultima-thule%3A-robert-burns>.
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