Analysis of The Battle Autumn of 1862
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
The flags of war like storm birds fly,
The charging trumpets blow;
Yet rolls no thunder in the sky,
No earthquake strives below.
And, calm and patient, Nature keeps
Her ancient promises well,
Though o'er her bloom and greenness sweeps,
The battle's breath of hell.
And still she walks in golden hours,
Through harvest-happy farms,
And still she wears her fruits and flowers
Like jewels on her arms.
What means the gladness of the plain,
This joy of eve and morn,
The mirth that shakes the bread of grain
And yellow locks of corn?
Ah! eyes may well be full of tears,
And hearts with hate are hot;
But even-paced come round the years,
And nature changes not.
She meets with smiles our bitter grief,
With songs our groans of pain;
She mocks with tints of flowers and leaf,
The war-field's crimson stain.
Still, in the cannon's pause, we hear
Her sweet thanksgiving psalm;
Too near to God for doubt or fear,
She shares the eternal calm.
She knows the seed lies safe below
The fires that blast and burn;
For all the tears of blood we sow
She waits the rich return.
She sees with clearer eye than ours
The good of suffering born,
The hearts that blossom like her flowers
And ripen like her corn.
Oh, give to us, in times like these,
The vision of her eyes;
And make her fields and fruited trees
Our golden prophecies.
Oh, give to us her finer ear;
Above this stormy din,
We, too, would hear the bells of cheer
Ring peace and freedom in.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH XIXI JGJG KXLX BMXM EHEH NXNN KOLO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (91%) |
Metre | 01111111 010101 11110001 11101 01010101 0101001 110010101 010111 011101010 110101 011101010 110101 1101101 111101 01110111 010111 11111111 011111 11011101 010101 111110101 1110111 111111001 011101 10010111 01101 11111111 1100101 11011101 0101101 11011111 110101 111101110 0111001 011101010 010101 11110111 010101 0101011 1010100 11110101 011101 11110111 110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,396 |
Words | 266 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 08, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 115 Views
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"The Battle Autumn of 1862" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23052/the-battle-autumn-of-1862>.
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