Analysis of September, 1819
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
. Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.
No faint and hesitating trill,
Such tribute as to winter chill
The lonely redbreast pays!
Clear, loud, and lively is the din,
From social warblers gathering in
Their harvest of sweet lays.
Nor doth the example fail to cheer
Me, conscious that my leaf is sere,
And yellow on the bough:-
Fall, rosy garlands, from my head!
Ye myrtle wreaths, your fragrance shed
Around a younger brow!
Yet will I temperately rejoice;
Wide is the range, and free the choice
Of undiscordant themes;
Which, haply, kindred souls may prize
Not less than vernal ecstasies,
And passion's feverish dreams.
For deathless powers to verse belong,
And they like Demi-gods are strong
On whom the Muses smile;
But some their function have disclaimed,
Best pleased with what is aptliest framed
To enervate and defile.
Not such the initiatory strains
Committed to the silent plains
In Britain's earliest dawn:
Trembled the groves, the stars grew pale,
While all-too-daringly the veil
Of nature was withdrawn!
Nor such the spirit-stirring note
When the live chords Alcæus smote,
Inflamed by sense of wrong;
Woe! woe to Tyrants! from the lyre
Broke threateningly, in sparkles dire
Of fierce vindictive song.
And not unhallowed was the page
By wingèd Love inscribed, to assuage
The pangs of vain pursuit;
Love listening while the Lesbian Maid
With finest touch of passion swayed
Her own Æolian lute.
O ye, who patiently explore
The wreck of Herculanean lore,
What rapture! could ye seize
Some Theban fragment, or unroll
One precious, tender-hearted scroll
Of pure Simonides.
That were, indeed, a genuine birth
Of poesy; a bursting forth
Of genius from the dust:
What Horace gloried to behold,
What Maro loved, shall we enfold?
Can haughty Time be just!
Scheme | AABCCBDDEFFE GGHIIH JJKXEK LLXMMD NNOPPO XALQQL RRSCCS TTXDXE XXUVVU |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (32%) |
Metre | 01010101 111001 0100111 11110101 110111 0101 1101001 11011101 01011 11010101 110101000 110111 110010111 11011111 010101 1101111 11011101 010101 111101 11010101 111 1110111 111101 011001 11101101 01110111 110101 11110101 1111111 1101 11011 01010101 0101001 10010111 111101 110101 11010101 1011111 011111 11110101 110000101 110101 011101 111101101 011101 1100101001 11011101 0111 11110001 01111 110111 111011 11010101 111 100101001 110101 110101 1101101 11011101 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,947 |
Words | 315 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 168 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 115 Views
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"September, 1819" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42318/september%2C-1819>.
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