Analysis of A Christmas Carol
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
I.
The shepherds went their hasty way,
And found the lowly stable-shed
Where the Virgin-Mother lay:
And now they checked their eager tread,
For to the Babe, that at her bosom clung,
A Mother's song the Virgin-Mother sung.
II.
They told her how a glorious light,
Streaming from a heavenly throng.
Around them shone, suspending night!
While sweeter than a mother's song,
Blest Angels heralded the Savior's birth,
Glory to God on high! and Peace on Earth.
III.
She listened to the tale divine,
And closer still the Babe she pressed:
And while she cried, the Babe is mine!
The milk rushed faster to her breast:
Joy rose within her, like a summer's morn;
Peace, Peace on Earth! the Prince of Peace is born.
IV.
Thou Mother of the Prince of Peace,
Poor, simple, and of low estate!
That strife should vanish, battle cease,
O why should this thy soul elate?
Sweet Music's loudest note, the Poet's story,
Didst thou ne'er love to hear of fame and glory?
V.
And is not War a youthful king,
A stately Hero clad in mail?
Beneath his footsteps laurels spring;
Him Earth's majestic monarchs hail
Their friends, their playmate! and his bold bright eye
Compels the maiden's love-confessing sigh.
VI.
Tell this in some more courtly scene,
To maids and youths in robes of state!
I am a woman poor and mean,
And wherefore is my soul elate.
War is a ruffian, all with guilt defiled,
That from the aged father's tears his child!
VII.
A murderous fiend, by fiends adored,
He kills the sire and starves the son;
The husband kills, and from her board
Steals all his widow's toil had won;
Plunders God's world of beauty; rends away
All safety from the night, all comfort from the day.
VIII.
Then wisely is my soul elate,
That strife should vanish, battle cease:
I'm poor and of low estate,
The Mother of the Prince of Peace.
Joy rises in me, like a summer's morn:
Peace, Peace on Earth! The Prince of Peace is born!
Scheme | abcbcdd aefefgg ahihijJ klmLmnn kopopaa aqmqmcx krsrsbb kmLmljJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 01011101 01010101 1010101 01111101 1101110101 0101010101 1 110101001 10101001 01110101 11010101 1101000101 1011110111 1 11010101 01010111 01110111 01110101 1101010101 1111011111 1 11010111 11001101 11110101 11111101 11010101010 11111111010 1 01110101 01010101 0111101 1101011 111101111 010110101 1 11011101 11010111 11010101 0111101 11011111 110110111 1 010011101 110100101 01010101 11110111 111110101 110101110101 1 11011101 11110101 1101101 01010111 1100110101 1111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,845 |
Words | 343 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 182 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 237 Views
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"A Christmas Carol" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34217/a-christmas-carol>.
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