Analysis of Fata Morgana
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
O sweet illusions of song
That tempt me everywhere,
In the lonely fields, and the throng
Of the crowded thoroughfare!
I approach and ye vanish away,
I grasp you, and ye are gone;
But ever by night and by day,
The melody soundeth on.
As the weary traveller sees
In desert or prairie vast,
Blue lakes, overhung with trees
That a pleasant shadow cast;
Fair towns with turrets high,
And shining roofs of gold,
That vanish as he draws nigh,
Like mists together rolled --
So I wander and wander along,
And forever before me gleams
The shining city of song,
In the beautiful land of dreams.
But when I would enter the gate
Of that golden atmosphere,
It is gone, and I wonder and wait
For the vision to reappear.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DEDE FGFG AHAH IJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 1101011 11110 00101001 101010 101011001 1110111 11011011 010011 10101001 0101101 1100111 101011 111101 010111 1101111 110101 111001001 00100111 0101011 00100111 11111001 111010 111011001 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 749 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 09, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 151 Views
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"Fata Morgana" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18592/fata-morgana>.
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