Analysis of The Thought

William Brighty Rands 1823 (Chelsea, Middlesex) – 1882 (East Dulwich, London)



Into the skies, one summer's day,
I sent a little Thought away;
Up to where, in the blue round,
The sun sat shining without sound.

Then my Thought came back to me.—
Little Thought, what did you see
In the regions whence you come?
And when I spoke, my Thought was dumb.

But she breathed of what was there,
In the pure bright upper air;
And, because my Thought so shone,
I knew she had been shone upon.

Next, by night a Thought I sent
Up into the firmament;
When the eager stars were out,
And the still moon shone about.

And my Thought went past the moon
In between the stars, but soon
Held her breath and durst not stir,
For the fear that covered her;
Then she thought, in this demur:

'Dare I look beneath the shade,
Into where the worlds are made;
Where the suns and stars are wrought?
Shall I meet another Thought?

'Will that other Thought have wings?
Shall I meet strange, heavenly things?
Thought of Thoughts, and Light of Lights,
Breath of Breaths, and Night of Nights?'

Then my Thought began to hark
In the illuminated dark,
Till the silence, over, under,
Made her heart beat more than thunder.

And my Thought, came trembling back,
But with something on her track,
And with something at her side;
Nor till she has lived and died,
Lived and died, and lived again,
Will that awful thing seem plain.


Scheme AABB CCDD EEXX XAFF GGHHH IIJJ KKLL MMHH NNOOXX
Poetic Form
Metre 01011101 11010101 1110011 01110011 1111111 1011111 0010111 01111111 1111111 0011101 0011111 11111101 1110111 10101 1010101 0011101 0111101 0010111 1010111 1011100 1110101 1110101 0110111 1010111 1110101 1110111 11111001 1110111 1110111 1110111 0001001 10101010 10111110 01111001 1110101 0110101 1111101 1010101 1110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,305
Words 246
Sentences 14
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 6
Lines Amount 39
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 112
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:13 min read
115

William Brighty Rands

William Brighty Rands (24 December 1823, Chelsea, Middlesex — 23 April 1882, East Dulwich, London) was a British writer and one of the major authors of nursery rhymes of the Victorian era.  more…

All William Brighty Rands poems | William Brighty Rands Books

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