Analysis of To Dora
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
''A little onward lend thy guiding hand
To these dark steps, a little further on!''
--What trick of memory to 'my' voice hath brought
This mournful iteration? For though Time,
The Conqueror, crowns the Conquered, on this brow
Planting his favourite silver diadem,
Nor he, nor minister of his--intent
To run before him--hath enrolled me yet,
Though not unmenaced, among those who lean
Upon a living staff, with borrowed sight.
--O my own Dora, my beloved child!
Should that day come--but hark! the birds salute
The cheerful dawn, brightening for me the east;
For me, thy natural leader, once again
Impatient to conduct thee, not as erst
A tottering infant, with compliant stoop
From flower to flower supported; but to curb
Thy nymph-like step swift-bounding o'er the lawn,
Along the loose rocks, or the slippery verge
Of foaming torrents.--From thy orisons
Come forth; and, while the morning air is yet
Transparent as the soul of innocent youth,
Let me, thy happy guide, now point thy way,
And now precede thee, winding to and fro,
Till we by perseverance gain the top
Of some smooth ridge, whose brink precipitous
Kindles intense desire for powers withheld
From this corporeal frame; whereon who stands,
Is seized with strong incitement to push forth
His arms, as swimmers use, and plunge--dread thought,
For pastime plunge--into the 'abrupt abyss,'--
Where ravens spread their plumy vans, at ease!
And yet more gladly thee would I conduct
Through woods and spacious forests,--to behold
There, how the Original of human art,
Heaven-prompted Nature, measures and erects
Her temples, fearless for the stately work,
Though waves, to every breeze, its high-arched roof,
And storms the pillars rock. But we such schools
Of reverential awe will chiefly seek
In the still summer noon, while beams of light,
Reposing here, and in the aisles beyond
Traceably gliding through the dusk, recall
To mind the living presences of nuns;
A gentle, pensive, white-robed sisterhood,
Whose saintly radiance mitigates the gloom
Of those terrestrial fabrics, where they serve,
To Christ, the Sun of righteousness, espoused.
Now also shall the page of classic lore,
To these glad eyes from bondage freed, again
Lie open; and the book of Holy Writ,
Again unfolded, passage clear shall yield
To heights more glorious still, and into shades
More awful, where, advancing hand in hand,
We may be taught, O Darling of my care!
To calm the affections, elevate the soul,
And consecrate our lives to truth and love.
Scheme | Text too long |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101011101 1111010101 11110011111 1101111 01001010111 10111010 1111001101 1101110111 11101111 010101111 111101011 1111110101 01011001101 11110010101 0101011111 01001010101 110110010111 11111101001 01011101001 11010111 1101010111 01010111001 1111011111 0101110101 111010101 1111110100 10101011001 1111111 1111010111 1111010111 1110100101 110111111 0111011101 1101010101 11001001101 10101010001 0101010101 11110011111 0101011111 101011101 0011011111 11000101 1101011 1101010011 0101011100 1101001001 11010010111 1101110001 1101011101 1111110101 1100011101 0101010111 11110010011 1101010101 1111110111 1100101001 0101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,440 |
Words | 416 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 57 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,961 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 410 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 2:04 min read
- 138 Views
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"To Dora" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42432/to-dora>.
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