Analysis of The Song of O'Ruark, Prince of Breffni
Thomas Moore 1779 (Dublin) – 1852 (Bromham)
The valley lay smiling before me,
Where lately I left her behind;
Yet I trembled, and something hung o'er me,
That sadden'd the joy of my mind.
I look'd for the lamp which, she told me,
Should shine when her Pilgrim return'd;
But, though darkness began to infold me,
No lamp from the battlements burn'd!
I flew to her chamber -- 'twas lonely,
As if the loved tenant lay dead; --
Ah, would it were death, and death only!
But no, the young false one had fled.
And there hung the lute that could soften
My very worst pains into bliss;
While the hand that had waked it so often
Now throbb'd to a proud rival's kiss.
There was a time, falsest of women,
When Breffni's good sword would have sought
That man, through a million of foemen,
Who dared but to wrong thee in thought!
While now -- oh degenerate daughter
Of Erin, how fallen is thy fame!
And through ages of bondage and slaughter,
Our country shall bleed for thy shame.
Already the curse is upon her,
And strangers her valleys profane;
They come to divide, to dishonour,
And tyrants they long will remain.
But onward! --- the green banner rearing,
Go, flesh every sword to the hilt;
On our side is Virtue and Erin,
On theirs is the Saxon and Guilt.
Scheme | ABABACAC ADADEFEF EGEGHIHI HJHJXKXK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010110011 11011001 11100101101 11001111 111011111 11101001 111001111 11101001 111010110 11011011 111010110 11011111 011011110 11011011 1011111110 11101101 11011110 1111111 11101011 11111101 111010010 110110111 0110110010 101011111 010011010 01001001 1110111 01011101 110011010 111001101 1101110010 11101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,208 |
Words | 226 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 230 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 31 Views
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