Analysis of Manchester by Night

Mathilde Blind 1841 (Mannheim) – 1896 (London)



O'er this huge town, rife with intestine wars,
Whence as from monstrous sacrificial shrines
Pillars of smoke climb heavenward, Night inclines
Black brows majestical with glimmering stars.
Her dewy silence soothes life's angry jars:
And like a mother's wan white face, who pines
Above her children's turbulent ways, so shines
The moon athwart the narrow cloudy bars.

Now toiling multitudes that hustling crush
Each other in the fateful strife for breath,
And, hounded on by diverse hungers, rush
Across the prostrate ones that groan beneath,
Are swathed within the universal hush,
As life exchanges semblances with death.


Scheme XAABBAAB CDCXCD
Poetic Form
Metre 10111110101 111100101 101111101 11111001 0101011101 0101011111 01010100111 0101010101 1101011001 1100010111 010110111 0101011101 110100101 11010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 628
Words 99
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 253
Words per stanza (avg) 49
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
57

Mathilde Blind

Mathilde Blind, was a German-born British poet. Her work was praised by Matthew Arnold and French politician and historian Louis Blanc. more…

All Mathilde Blind poems | Mathilde Blind Books

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