Analysis of The Grey Monk
William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)
1 'I die, I die!' the Mother said,
2 'My children die for lack of bread.
3 What more has the merciless Tyrant said?'
4 The Monk sat down on the stony bed.
5 The blood red ran from the Grey Monk's side,
6 His hands and feet were wounded wide,
7 His body bent, his arms and knees
8 Like to the roots of ancient trees.
9 His eye was dry; no tear could flow:
10 A hollow groan first spoke his woe.
11 He trembled and shudder'd upon the bed;
12 At length with a feeble cry he said:
13 'When God commanded this hand to write
14 In the studious hours of deep midnight,
15 He told me the writing I wrote should prove
16 The bane of all that on Earth I lov'd.
17 My Brother starv'd between two walls,
18 His Children's cry my soul appalls;
19 I mock'd at the rack and griding chain,
20 My bent body mocks their torturing pain.
21 Thy father drew his sword in the North,
22 With his thousands strong he marched forth;
23 Thy Brother has arm'd himself in steel
24 To avenge the wrongs thy Children feel.
25 But vain the Sword and vain the Bow,
26 They never can work War's overthrow.
27 The Hermit's prayer and the Widow's tear
28 Alone can free the World from fear.
29 For a Tear is an intellectual thing,
30 And a Sigh is the sword of an Angel King,
31 And the bitter groan of the Martyr's woe
32 Is an arrow from the Almighty's bow.
33 The hand of Vengeance found the bed
34 To which the Purple Tyrant fled;
35 The iron hand crush'd the Tyrant's head
36 And became a Tyrant in his stead.'
Scheme | AAAA BBCC DDAA EEXX FFGG HHII JDXX KKDJ AAAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
Metre | 11110101 11011111 1110100101 011110101 011110111 11010101 11011101 11011101 11111111 01011111 1100100101 111010111 110101111 0010010111 1110101111 011111111 11010111 11011101 11101011 1110111001 110111001 11101111 110110101 101011101 11010101 11011110 01100101 01110111 1011101001 00110111101 001011011 11101011 01110101 11010101 01011011 001010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,544 |
Words | 305 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 604 Views
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