Analysis of Ichabod
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn
Which once he wore!
The glory from his gray hairs gone
Forevermore!
Revile him not, the Tempter hath
A snare for all;
And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath,
Befit his fall!
Oh, dumb be passion's stormy rage,
When he who might
Have lighted up and led his age,
Falls back in night.
Scorn! would the angels laugh, to mark
A bright soul driven,
Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark,
From hope and heaven!
Let not the land once proud of him
Insult him now,
Nor brand with deeper shame his dim,
Dishonored brow.
But let its humbled sons, instead,
From sea to lake,
A long lament, as for the dead,
In sadness make.
Of all we loved and honored, naught
Save power remains;
A fallen angel's pride of thought,
Still strong in chains.
All else is gone; from those great eyes
The soul has fled:
When faith is lost, when honor dies,
The man is dead!
Then, pay the reverence of old days
To his dead fame;
Walk backward, with averted gaze,
And hide the shame!
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN OKOK PQPQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 110110101 1111 01011111 1 0111011 0111 010011101 0111 1111101 1111 11010111 1101 11010111 01110 11010101 11010 11011111 0111 11110111 0101 11110101 1111 01011101 0101 11110101 11001 0101111 1101 11111111 0111 11111101 0111 110100111 1111 11010101 0101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 956 |
Words | 185 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 84 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 15, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 193 Views
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"Ichabod" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22931/ichabod>.
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