Analysis of Herr Weiser
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Herr Weiser--! Three-score-years-and-ten--,
A hale white rose of his country-men,
Transplanted here in the Hoosier loam,
And blossomy as his German home--
As blossomy and as pure and sweet
As the cool green glen of his calm retreat,
Far withdrawn from the noisy town
Where trade goes clamoring up and down,
Whose fret and fever, and stress and strife,
May not trouble his tranquil life!
Breath of rest, what a balmy gust--!
Quite of the city's heat and dust,
Jostling down by the winding road,
Through the orchard ways of his quaint abode--.
Tether the horse, as we onward fare
Under the pear-trees trailing there,
And thumping the wood bridge at night
With lumps of ripeness and lush delight,
Till the stream, as it maunders on till dawn,
Is powdered and pelted and smiled upon.
Herr Weiser, with his wholesome face,
And the gentle blue of his eyes, and grace
Of unassuming honesty,
Be there to welcome you and me!
And what though the toil of the farm be stopped
And the tireless plans of the place be dropped,
While the prayerful master's knees are set
In beds of pansy and mignonette
And lily and aster and columbine,
Offered in love, as yours and mine--?
What, but a blessing of kindly thought,
Sweet as the breath of forget-me-not--!
What, but a spirit of lustrous love
White as the aster he bends above--!
What, but an odorous memory
Of the dear old man, made known to me
In days demanding a help like his--,
As sweet as the life of the lily is--
As sweet as the soul of a babe, bloom-wise
Born of a lily in paradise.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEE FFGGHHIIXX JJKKLLXCMM XXNNKKOOXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011101 011111101 010100101 0111101 1101101 1011111101 10110101 111100101 110100101 11101101 11110101 11010101 100110101 1010111101 100111101 10011101 01001111 11110101 101111111 1100100101 11011101 0010111101 1010100 11110101 0110110111 00100110111 101010111 0111001 010010010 10011101 110101101 110110111 110101101 110101101 111100100 101111111 010100111 1110110101 1110110111 11010010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,492 |
Words | 279 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 294 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 69 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 34 Views
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"Herr Weiser" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20903/herr-weiser>.
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