Analysis of Proem
James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)
O antique fables! beautiful and bright
And joyous with the joyous youth of yore;
O antique fables! for a little light
Of that which shineth in you evermore,
To cleanse the dimness from our weary eyes,
And bathe our old world with a new surprise
Of golden dawn entrancing sea and shore.
We stagger under the enormous weight
Of all the heavy ages piled on us,
With all their grievous wrongs inveterate,
And all their disenchantments dolorous,
And all the monstrous tasks they have bequeathed;
And we are stifled with the airs they breathed;
And read in theirs our dooms calamitous.
Our world is all stript naked of their dreams;
No deities in sky or sun or moon,
No nymphs in woods and hills and seas and streams;
Mere earth and water, air and fire, their boon;
No God in all our universe we trace,
No heaven in the infinitude of space,
No life beyond death--coming not too soon.
Our souls are stript of their illusions sweet,
Our hopes at best in some far future years
For others, not ourselves; whose bleeding feet
Wander this rocky waste where broken spears
And bleaching bones lie scattered on the sand;
Who know we shall not reach the Promised Land;
Perhaps a mirage glistening through our tears.
And if there be this Promised Land indeed,
Our children's children's children's heritage,
Oh, what a prodigal waste of precious seed,
Of myriad myriad lives from age to age,
Of woes and agonies and blank despairs,
Through countless cycles, that some fortunate heirs
May enter, and conclude the pilgrimage!
But if it prove a mirage after all!
Our last illusion leaves us wholly bare,
To bruise against Fate's adamantine wall,
Consumed or frozen in the pitiless air;
In all our world, beneath, around, above,
One only refuge, solace, triumph,--Love,
Sole star of light in infinite black despair.
Of antique fables! beautiful and bright,
And joyous with the joyous youth of yore;
O antique fables! for a little light
Of that which shineth in you evermore,
To cleanse the dimness from our weary eyes
And bathe our old world with a new surprise
Of golden dawn entrancing sea and shore.
Scheme | aBABCCB xdxcxxd efefggf hihijjk lmlxkkm nonoppo aBABCCB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011010001 0101010111 1011010101 11110110 1101110101 01101110101 11011101 1101000101 1101010111 1111010100 01111 0101011101 0111010111 01011010100 10111110111 1100011111 1101010101 11010101011 1101101011 11000111 1101110111 10111110101 10111011101 11010011101 1011011101 0101110101 1111110101 010011001101 0111110101 10101010100 11010011101 110010011111 1101000101 11010111001 1100010100 1111001101 10101011101 1101111 01110001001 01101010101 1101010101 11110100101 1011010001 0101010111 1011010101 11110110 1101110101 01101110101 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,088 |
Words | 366 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 236 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:51 min read
- 54 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Proem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20672/proem>.
Discuss this James Thomson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In