Analysis of The Power of Armies Is a Visible Thing

William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)



The power of Armies is a visible thing,
Formal, and circumscribed in time and space;
But who the limits of that power shall trace
Which a brave People into light can bring
Or hide, at will,--for freedom combating
By just revenge inflamed? No foot may chase,
No eye can follow, to a fatal place
That power, that spirit, whether on the wing
Like the strong wind, or sleeping like the wind
Within its awful caves.--From year to year
Springs this indigenous produce far and near;
No craft this subtle element can bind,
Rising like water from the soil, to find
In every nook a lip that it may cheer.


Scheme ABBAABBACDDCCD
Poetic Form
Metre 010110101001 100010101 11010111011 1011001111 1111110010 1101011111 1111010101 11011010101 1011110101 0111011111 11010001101 1111010011 1011010111 01001011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 602
Words 113
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 466
Words per stanza (avg) 109
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

33 sec read
227

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was the husband of Eva Bartok. more…

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