Analysis of A Harvest Song
Isabella Valancy Crawford 1850 (Dublin) – 1887 (Toronto)
THE noon was as a crystal bowl
The red wine mantled through;
Around it like a Viking's beard
The red-gold hazes blew,
As tho' he quaffed the ruddy draught
While swift his galley flew.
This mighty Viking was the Night;
He sailed about the earth,
And called the merry harvest-time
To sing him songs of mirth;
And all on earth or in the sea
To melody gave birth.
The valleys of the earth were full
To rocky lip and brim
With golden grain that shone and sang
When woods were still and dim,
A little song from sheaf to sheaf-
Sweet Plenty's cradle-hymn.
O gallant were the high tree-tops,
And gay the strain they sang!
And cheerfully the moon-lit hills
Their echo-music rang!
And what so proud and what so loud
As was the ocean's clang!
But O the little humming song
That sang among the sheaves!
'Twas grander than the airy march
That rattled thro' the leaves,
And prouder, louder, than the deep,
Bold clanging of the waves:
'The lives of men, the lives of men
With every sheaf are bound!
We are the blessing which annuls
The curse upon the ground!
And he who reaps the Golden Grain
The Golden Love hath found.'
Scheme | XAXAXA XBXBCB XDEDXD XEXEXE XFXFXX XGCGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110101 01111 01110101 01111 11110101 111101 11010101 110101 01010101 111111 01111001 110011 01010101 110101 11011101 110101 01011111 11101 11000111 010111 01000111 110101 01110111 110101 11010101 110101 11010101 110101 01010101 110101 01110111 1100111 1101011 010101 01110101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,079 |
Words | 208 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 45 Views
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"A Harvest Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19882/a-harvest-song>.
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