Analysis of Friend In The Desolate Time
Erik Johan Stagnelius 1793 (Öland) – 1823 (Stockholm)
Friend, in the desolate time, when your soul is enshrouded in darkness
When, in a deep abyss, memory and feeling die out,
Intellect timidly gropes among shadowy forms and illusions
Heart can no longer sigh, eye is unable to weep;
When, from your night-clouded soul the wings of fire have fallen
And you, to nothing, afraid, feel yourself sinking once more,
Say, who rescues you then?—Who is the comforting angel
Brings to your innermost soul order and beauty again,
Building once more your fragmented world, restoring the fallen
Altar, and when it is raised, lighting the sacred flame?-—
None but the powerful being who first from the limitless darkness
Kissed to life seraphs and woke numberless suns to their dance.
None but the holy Word who called the worlds into existence
And in whose power the worlds move on their paths to this day.
Therefore, rejoice, oh friend, and sing in the darkness of sorrow:
Night is the mother of day, Chaos the neighbor of God.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHEIAJKLMN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10010011111010010 10010110001011 1010010110010010 1111011101011 111110101110110 01110011011011 1111111010010 1111011001001 101111001010010 1001111100101 11010010111010010 11110111111 110101110101010 00110011111111 10111010010110 11010111001011 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 983 |
Words | 170 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 48 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 766 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 166 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 26, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 95 Views
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