Analysis of The Shadow Of The Cross
John McCrae 1872 (Guelph) – 1918 (Boulogne-sur-Mer)
At the drowsy dusk when the shadows creep
From the golden west, where the sunbeams sleep,
An angel mused: "Is there good or ill
In the mad world's heart, since on Calvary's hill
'Round the cross a mid-day twilight fell
That darkened earth and o'ershadowed hell?"
Through the streets of a city the angel sped;
Like an open scroll men's hearts he read.
In a monarch's ear his courtiers lied
And humble faces hid hearts of pride.
Men's hate waxed hot, and their hearts grew cold,
As they haggled and fought for the lust of gold.
Despairing, he cried, "After all these years
Is there naught but hatred and strife and tears?"
He found two waifs in an attic bare;
-- A single crust was their meagre fare --
One strove to quiet the other's cries,
And the love-light dawned in her famished eyes
As she kissed the child with a motherly air:
"I don't need mine, you can have my share."
Then the angel knew that the earthly cross
And the sorrow and shame were not wholly loss.
At dawn, when hushed was earth's busy hum
And men looked not for their Christ to come,
From the attic poor to the palace grand,
The King and the beggar went hand in hand.
Scheme | AA BB CC DD EE FF XX GG HH GG II JJ KK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Couplet |
Metre | 101011011 101011011 110111111 001111111 10101111 1101011 10110100101 111011111 001111001 010101111 111101111 11100110111 0101110111 1111100101 111101101 01011111 111100101 0011100101 11101101001 111111111 1010110101 00100101101 111111101 011111111 1010110101 0100101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,120 |
Words | 218 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 68 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 16 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 25, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 104 Views
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