Analysis of North And South
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Of the North I wove a dream,
All bespangled with the gleam
Of the glancing wings of swallows
Dipping ripples in a stream,
That, like a tide of wine,
Wound through lands of shade and shine
Where purple grapes hung bursting on the vine.
And where orchard-boughs were bent
Till their tawny fruitage blent
With the golden wake that marked the
Way the happy reapers went;
Where the dawn died into noon
As the May-mists into June,
And the dusk fell like a sweet face in a swoon.
Of the South I dreamed: And there
Came a vision clear and fair
As the marvelous enchantments
Of the mirage of the air;
And I saw the bayou-trees,
With their lavish draperies,
Hang heavy o'er the moon-washed cypress-knees.
Peering from lush fens of rice,
I beheld the Negro's eyes,
Lit with that old superstition
Death itself can not disguise;
And I saw the palm tree nod
Like an oriental god,
And the cotton froth and bubble from the pod,
And I dreamed that North and South,
With a sigh of dew and drouth,
Blew each unto the other
The salute of lip and mouth;
And I wakened, awed and thrilled--
Every doubting murmur stilled
In the silence of the dream I found fulfilled.
Scheme | AABACCC DDEDFFF GGBGHHH XIXIJJJ KEXKLLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011101 11101 10101110 1010001 110111 1111101 1101110101 0110101 111011 10101110 101011 1011011 1011011 00111011001 1011101 1010101 101001 1001101 0110101 1110100 11010011101 1011111 11011 1111010 1011101 0110111 110101 00101010101 0111101 1011101 1110010 0011101 011101 10010101 00101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,118 |
Words | 213 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 71 Views
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"North And South" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20984/north-and-south>.
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