Analysis of Tapestry Trees

William Morris 1834 (Walthamstow) – 1896 (London)



I am the Roof-tree and the Keel;
I bridge the seas for woe and weal.

High o’er the lordly oak I stand,
And drive him on from land to land.

I heft my brother’s iron bane;
I shaft the spear, and build the wain.

Dark down the windy dale I grow,
The father of the fateful Bow.

The war-shaft and the milking-bowl
I make, and keep the hay-wain whole.

The King I bless; the lamps I trim;
In my warm wave do fishes swim.

I bowed my head to Adam’s will;
The cups of toiling men I fill.

I draw the blood from out the earth;
I store the sun for winter mirth.

Amidst the greenness of my night,
My odorous lamps hang round and bright.

I who am little among trees
In honey-making mate the bees.

Love’s lack hath dyed my berries red:
For Love’s attire my leaves are shed.

High o’er the mead-flowers’ hidden feet
I bear aloft my burden sweet.

Look on my leafy boughs, the Crown
Of living song and dead renown!


Scheme AA BB CC XX DD EE FF GG HH II JJ KK LL
Poetic Form Couplet 
Metre 11011001 11011101 1101111 01111111 11110101 11010101 11010111 01010101 01100101 11010111 01110111 01111101 11111101 01110111 11011101 11011101 01010111 110011101 11110011 01010101 11111101 110101111 110110101 11011101 11110101 11010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 987
Words 192
Sentences 27
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Lines Amount 26
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 52
Words per stanza (avg) 14
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

57 sec read
51

William Morris

William Morris, Mayor of Galway, 1527-28. more…

All William Morris poems | William Morris Books

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    What is the term for the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
    A Line break
    B A turn
    C Dithyramb
    D Enjambment