Analysis of King Christian, A National Song Of Denmark. (From The Danish Of Johannes Evald)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
King Christian stood by the lofty mast
In mist and smoke;
His sword was hammering so fast,
Through Gothic helm and brain it passed;
Then sank each hostile hulk and mast,
In mist and smoke.
'Fly!' shouted they, 'fly, he who can!
Who braves of Denmark's Christian
The stroke?'
Nils Juel gave heed to the tempest's roar,
Now is the hour!
He hoisted his blood-red flag once more,
And smote upon the foe full sore,
And shouted loud, through the tempest's roar,
'Now is the hour!'
'Fly!' shouted they, 'for shelter fly!
Of Denmark's Juel who can defy
The power?'
North Sea! a glimpse of Wessel rent
Thy murky sky!
Then champions to thine arms were sent;
Terror and Death glared where he went;
From the waves was heard a wail, that rent
Thy murky sky!
From Denmark, thunders Tordenskiol',
Let each to Heaven commend his soul,
And fly!
Path of the Dane to fame and might!
Dark-rolling wave!
Receive thy friend, who, scorning flight,
Goes to meet danger with despite,
Proudly as thou the tempest's might,
Dark-rolling wave!
And amid pleasures and alarms,
And war and victory, be thine arms
My grave!
Scheme | aBaaaBxxb cDcccDeed fEfffEexe gHgggHiih |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110110101 0101 11110011 11010111 11110101 0101 11011111 111110 01 11111011 11010 110111111 01010111 01011011 11010 11011101 1111101 010 11011101 1101 110011101 10011111 101110111 1101 11101 111100111 01 11011101 1101 0111111 11110101 1011011 1101 00110001 010100111 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,069 |
Words | 200 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 209 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
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"King Christian, A National Song Of Denmark. (From The Danish Of Johannes Evald)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18672/king-christian%2C-a-national-song-of-denmark.-%28from-the-danish-of-johannes-evald%29>.
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