Analysis of A Bridal Measure
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Come, essay a sprightly measure,
Tuned to some light song of pleasure.
Maidens, let your brows be crowned
As we foot this merry round.
From the ground a voice is singing,
From the sod a soul is springing.
Who shall say 't is but a clod
Quick'ning upward toward its God?
Who shall say it? Who may know it,
That the clod is not a poet
Waiting but a gleam to waken
In a spirit music-shaken?
Phyllis, Phyllis, why be waiting?
In the woods the birds are mating.
From the tree beside the wall,
Hear the am'rous robin call.
Listen to yon thrush's trilling;
Phyllis, Phyllis, are you willing,
When love speaks from cave and tree,
Only we should silent be?
When the year, itself renewing,
All the world with flowers is strewing,
Then through Youth's Arcadian land,
Love and song go hand in hand.
Come, unfold your vocal treasure,
Sing with me a nuptial measure,--
Let this springtime gambol be
Bridal dance for you and me.
Scheme | AABB CCBX XXDD CCEE CCFF CCGG AAFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 10101010 11111110 1011111 1111101 10101110 10101110 11111101 11100111 11111111 10111010 10101110 00101010 10101110 00101110 1010101 101101 1011110 10101110 1111101 1011101 10101010 10111011 1111001 1011101 10111010 11101010 11111 1011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 894 |
Words | 170 |
Sentences | 13 |
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) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 52 Views
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