Analysis of The Fathers
Edwin Muir 1887 (Orkney) – 1959 (Cambridge)
Our fathers all were poor,
Poorer our fathers' fathers;
Beyond, we dare not look.
We, the sons, keep store
Of tarnished gold that gathers
Around us from the night,
Record it in this book
That, when the line is drawn,
Credit and creditor gone,
Column and figure flown,
Will open into light.
Archaic fevers shake
Our healthy flesh and blood
Plumped in the passing day
And fed with pleasant food.
The fathers' anger and ache
Will not, will not away
And leave the living alone,
But on our careless brows
Faintly their furrows engrave
Like veinings in a stone,
Breathe in the sunny house
Nightmare of blackened bone,
Cellar and choking cave.
Panics and furies fly
Through our unhurried veins,
Heavenly lights and rains
Purify heart and eye,
Past agonies purify
And lay the sullen dust.
The angers will not away.
We hold our fathers' trust,
Wrong, riches, sorrow and all
Until they topple and fall,
And fallen let in the day.
Scheme | XABXACBDDEC FXGXFGEXHEXEH IJJIIKGKLLG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 10101010 011111 10111 1101110 011101 011011 110111 1001001 100101 110011 010101 1010101 100101 011101 0101001 111101 0101001 1110101 101101 11001 100101 11101 100101 10011 1100101 100101 10101 110010 010101 0101101 1110101 1101001 0111001 0101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 895 |
Words | 164 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 13, 11 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 243 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 06, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 109 Views
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