Analysis of Specimen Of An Induction To A Poem
John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)
Lo! I must tell a tale of chivalry;
For large white plumes are dancing in mine eye.
Not like the formal crest of latter days:
But bending in a thousand graceful ways;
So graceful, that it seems no mortal hand,
Or e’en the touch of Archimago’s wand,
Could charm them into such an attitude.
We must think rather, that in playful mood,
Some mountain breeze had turned its chief delight,
To show this wonder of its gentle might.
Lo! I must tell a tale of chivalry;
For while I muse, the lance points slantingly
Athwart the morning air: some lady sweet,
Who cannot feel for cold her tender feet,
From the worn top of some old battlement
Hails it with tears, her stout defender sent:
And from her own pure self no joy dissembling,
Wraps round her ample robe with happy trembling.
Sometimes, when the good Knight his rest would take,
It is reflected, clearly, in a lake,
With the young ashen boughs, ’gainst which it rests,
And th’ half seen mossiness of linnets’ nests.
Ah! shall I ever tell its cruelty,
When the fire flashes from a warrior’s eye,
And his tremendous hand is grasping it,
And his dark brow for very wrath is knit?
Or when his spirit, with more calm intent,
Leaps to the honors of a tournament,
And makes the gazers round about the ring
Stare at the grandeur of the ballancing?
No, no! this is far off:—then how shall I
Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy,
Which linger yet about lone gothic arches,
In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?
How sing the splendour of the revelries,
When but[t]s of wine are drunk off to the lees?
And that bright lance, against the fretted wall,
Beneath the shade of stately banneral,
Is slung with shining cuirass, sword, and shield?
Where ye may see a spur in bloody field.
Light-footed damsels move with gentle paces
Round the wide hall, and show their happy faces;
Or stand in courtly talk by fives and sevens:
Like those fair stars that twinkle in the heavens.
Yet must I tell a tale of chivalry:
Or wherefore comes that knight so proudly by?
Wherefore more proudly does the gentle knight,
Rein in the swelling of his ample might?
Spenser! thy brows are arched, open, kind,
And come like a clear sun-rise to my mind;
And always does my heart with pleasure dance,
When I think on thy noble countenance:
Where never yet was ought more earthly seen
Than the pure freshness of thy laurels green.
Therefore, great bard, I not so fearfully
Call on thy gentle spirit to hover nigh
My daring steps: or if thy tender care,
Thus startled unaware,
Be jealous that the foot of other wight
Should madly follow that bright path of light
Trac’d by thy lov’d Libertas; he will speak,
And tell thee that my prayer is very meek;
That I will follow with due reverence,
And start with awe at mine own strange pretence.
Him thou wilt hear; so I will rest in hope
To see wide plains, fair trees and lawny slope:
The morn, the eve, the light, the shade, the flowers;
Clear streams, smooth lakes, and overlooking towers.
Scheme | AbccxxddeeAfgghijjkkll abmmihjjbcnccxffooxnppabee qqxrssfbtteeuurcvvww |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011100 1111110011 1101011101 1100010101 1101111101 1101111 111011110 1111010101 1101111101 1111011101 1111011100 11110111 0101011101 1101110101 1011111100 1111010101 01011111010 110101110100 0110111111 1101010001 1011011111 011111111 111101110 101010101001 0101011101 0111110111 1111011101 1101010100 010110101 11001101 1111111111 01010111 11010111010 0111000111 1101101 1111111101 0111010101 01011101 111101101 1111010101 1101111010 10110111010 11010111010 11111100010 1111011100 111111101 111010101 1001011101 101111101 0110111111 011111101 1111110100 1101111101 1011011101 1111111 11110101101 1101111101 11001 1101011101 1101011111 11111111 0111111101 1111011100 011111111 1111111101 111111011 01010101010 1111010010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,973 |
Words | 539 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 22, 26, 20 |
Lines Amount | 68 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 769 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 179 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 2:41 min read
- 104 Views
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"Specimen Of An Induction To A Poem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23488/specimen-of-an-induction-to-a-poem>.
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