Analysis of The Visionary Hope
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Sad lot, to have no Hope! Though lowly kneeling
He fain would frame a prayer within his breast,
Would fain entreat for some sweet breath of healing,
That his sick body might have ease and rest;
He strove in vain! the dull sighs from his chest
Against his will the stifling load revealing,
Though Nature forced; though like some captive guest,
Some royal prisoner at his conqueror's feast,
An alien's restless mood but half concealing,
The sternness on his gentle brow confessed,
Sickness within and miserable feeling:
Though obscure pangs made curses of his dreams,
And dreaded sleep, each night repelled in vain,
Each night was scattered by its own loud screams:
Yet never could his heart command, though fain,
One deep full wish to be no more in pain.
That Hope, which was his inward bliss and boast,
Which waned and died, yet ever near him stood,
Though changed in nature, wander where he would--
For Love's Despair is but Hope's pining Ghost!
For this one hope he makes his hourly moan,
He wishes and can wish for this alone!
Pierced, as with light from Heaven, before its gleams
(So the love-stricken visionary deems)
Disease would vanish, like a summer shower,
Whose dews fling sunshine from the noon-tide bower!
Or let it stay! yet this one Hope should give
Such strength that he would bless his pains and live.
Scheme | ABABBABCABADEDEEFGGFHHDDIIJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111010 1111010111 1111111110 1111011101 1101011111 01110101010 1101111101 110100111001 1110111010 0101110101 10010100010 1011110111 0101110101 1111011111 1101110111 1111111101 1111110101 1101110111 1101010111 1101111101 1111111101 1100111101 11111100111 101101001 01110101010 1111101110 1111111111 1111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,299 |
Words | 232 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,044 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 230 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 82 Views
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