Analysis of A Boy In Church
Robert von Ranke Graves 1895 (Wimbledon, Surrey) – 1985 (Deià, Majorca)
"Gabble-gabble,... brethren,... gabble-gabble!"
My window frames forest and heather.
I hardly hear the tuneful babble,
Not knowing nor much caring whether
The text is praise or exhortation,
Prayer or thanksgiving, or damnation.
Outside it blows wetter and wetter,
The tossing trees never stay still.
I shift my elbows to catch better
The full round sweep of heathered hill.
The tortured copse bends to and fro
In silence like a shadow-show.
The parson's voice runs like a river
Over smooth rocks. I like this church:
The pews are staid, they never shiver,
They never bend or sway or lurch.
"Prayer," says the kind voice, "is a chain
That draws down Grace from Heaven again."
I add the hymns up, over and over,
Until there's not the least mistake.
Seven-seventy-one. (Look! there's a plover!
It's gone!) Who's that Saint by the lake?
The red light from his mantle passes
Across the broad memorial brasses.
It's pleasant here for dreams and thinking,
Lolling and letting reason nod,
With ugly serious people linking
Sad prayers to a forgiving God....
But a dumb blast sets the trees swaying
With furious zeal like madmen praying.
Scheme | ABABCC BABADD BEBEXX BFBFXX GHGHGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111011 110110010 110101010 110111010 0111110 11101010 111110010 01011011 11111110 0111111 01011101 0101011 01111010 10111111 011111010 11011111 11011101 111111001 1101110010 01110101 10100111010 11111101 011111010 0101010010 110111010 10010101 1101001010 11100101 101110110 1100111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,116 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 176 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
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"A Boy In Church" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56548/a-boy-in-church>.
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