Analysis of And Doth Not a Meeting Like This
Thomas Moore 1779 (Dublin) – 1852 (Bromham)
And doth not a meeting like this make amends
For all the long years I've been wandering away --
To see thus around me my youth's early friends,
As smiling and kind as in that happy day?
Though haply o'er some of your brows, as o'er mine,
The snow -- fall of time may be stealing -- what then?
Like Alps in the sunset, thus lighted by wine,
We'll wear the gay tinge of youth's roses again.
What soften'd remembrances come o'er the heart,
In gazing on those we've been lost to so long!
The sorrows, the joys, of which once they were part,
Still round them, like visions of yesterday, throng.
As letters some hand hath invisibly traced,
When held to the flame, will steal out on the sight,
So many a feeling, that long seem'd effaced,
The warmth of a meeting like this brings to the light.
And thus, as in memory's bark we shall glide,
To visit the scenes of your boyhood anew,
Though oft we may see, looking down on the tide,
The wreck of full many a hope shining through;
Yet still, as in fancy we point to the flowers,
That once made a garden of all the gay shore,
Deceived for a moment, we'll think them still ours,
And breathe the fresh air of life's morning once more.
So brief our existence, a glimpse, at the most,
Is all we can have of the few we hold dear;
And oft even joy is unheeded and lost,
For want of some heart, that could echo it, near.
Ah, well may we hope, when this short life is gone,
To meet in some world of more permanent bliss,
For a smile, or a grasp of the hand, hastening on,
Is all we enjoy of each other in this.
But, come, the more rare such delights to the heart,
The more we should welcome and bless them the more;
They're ours, when we meet -- they are lost when we part,
Like birds that bring Summer, and fly when 'tis o'er.
Thus circling the cup, hand in hand, ere we drink,
Let Sympathy pledge us, through pleasure, through pain,
That, fast as a feeling but touches one link,
Her magic shall send it direct through the chain.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFXGEG HIHIJKJK XLXLXMXM EKEXNONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01101011101 110111110001 11101111101 11001101101 111011111101 01111111011 1100111011 11011111001 110010011001 01011111111 01001111101 1111101101 11011111 11101111101 1100101111 011010111101 011011111 1100111101 11111101101 01111001101 111010111010 11101011011 011010111110 01011111011 111001001101 11111101111 01101101001 11111111011 11111111111 11011111001 1011011011001 11101111001 11011101101 01111001101 110111111111 111110011110 110001101111 11001111011 11101011011 01011101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,967 |
Words | 382 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 298 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 76 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:59 min read
- 78 Views
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"And Doth Not a Meeting Like This" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36812/and-doth-not-a-meeting-like-this>.
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