Analysis of Our Autocrat
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
His laurels fresh from song and lay,
Romance, art, science, rich in all,
And young of heart, how dare we say
We keep his seventieth festival?
No sense is here of loss or lack;
Before his sweetness and his light
The dial holds its shadow back,
The charmed hours delay their flight.
His still the keen analysis
Of men and moods, electric wit,
Free play of mirth, and tenderness
To heal the slightest wound from it.
And his the pathos touching all
Life's sins and sorrows and regrets,
Its hopes and fears, its final call
And rest beneath the violets.
His sparkling surface scarce betrays
The thoughtful tide beneath it rolled,
The wisdom of the latter days,
And tender memories of the old.
What shapes and fancies, grave or gay,
Before us at his bidding come
The Treadmill tramp, the One-Horse Shay,
The dumb despair of Elsie's doom!
The tale of Avis and the Maid,
The plea for lips that cannot speak,
The holy kiss that Iris laid
On Little Boston's pallid cheek!
Long may he live to sing for us
His sweetest songs at evening time,
And, like his Chambered Nautilus,
To holier heights of beauty climb,
Though now unnumbered guests surround
The table that he rules at will,
Its Autocrat, however crowned,
Is but our friend and comrade still.
The world may keep his honored name,
The wealth of all his varied powers;
A stronger claim has love than fame,
And he himself is only ours!
Scheme | ABAX CDCD EFEF BXBX GHGH AXAX IJIJ EKEK LMLM NONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (70%) Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011101 01110101 01111111 1111000100 11111111 01110011 0101111 01100111 11010100 11010101 11110100 11010111 01010101 11010001 11011101 01010100 11010101 01010111 01010101 010100101 11010111 01111101 0110111 01011101 01110001 01111101 01011101 11010101 11111111 11011101 01110100 110011101 111101 01011111 110101 11101011 01111101 011111010 01011111 010111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,345 |
Words | 250 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 124 Views
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"Our Autocrat" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23003/our-autocrat>.
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