Analysis of Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 2. Interlude I.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
'Yes, well your story pleads the cause
Of those dumb mouths that have no speech,
Only a cry from each to each
In its own kind, with its own laws;
Something that is beyond the reach
Of human power to learn or teach,--
An inarticulate moan of pain,
Like the immeasurable main
Breaking upon an unknown beach.'
Thus spake the Poet with a sigh;
Then added, with impassioned cry,
As one who feels the words he speaks,
The color flushing in his cheeks,
The fervor burning in his eye:
'Among the noblest in the land,
Though he may count himself the least,
That man I honor and revere
Who without favor, without fear,
In the great city dares to stand
The friend of every friendless beast,
And tames with his unflinching hand
The brutes that wear our form and face,
The were-wolves of the human race!'
Then paused, and waited with a frown,
Like some old champion of romance,
Who, having thrown his gauntlet down,
Expectant leans upon his lance;
But neither Knight nor Squire is found
To raise the gauntlet from the ground,
And try with him the battle's chance.
'Wake from your dreams, O Edrehi!
Or dreaming speak to us, and make
A feint of being half awake,
And tell us what your dreams may be.
Out of the hazy atmosphere
Of cloud-land deign to reappear
Among us in this Wayside Inn;
Tell us what visions and what scenes
Illuminate the dark ravines
In which you grope your way. Begin!'
Thus the Sicilian spake. The Jew
Made no reply, but only smiled,
As men unto a wayward child,
Not knowing what to answer, do.
As from a cavern's mouth, o'ergrown
With moss and intertangled vines,
A streamlet leaps into the light
And murmurs over root and stone
In a melodious undertone;
Or as amid the noonday night
Of sombre and wind-haunted pines,
There runs a sound as of the sea;
So from his bearded lips there came
A melody without a name,
A song, a tale, a history,
Or whatsoever it may be,
Writ and recorded in these lines.
Scheme | ABBCBBDDBEEFFEGHIIGHGJJKLKLMMLNOOPIIQRRQSTTSDUVWWVUPXXPPU |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 11111111 10011111 01111111 10110101 110101111 100100111 1001001 10011011 11010101 11010101 11110111 01010011 01010011 01010001 11110101 11110001 10110011 00110111 01110011 01110101 011110101 00110101 11010101 111100101 11011101 01010111 11011111 11010101 01110101 111111 11011101 01110101 01111111 1101010 1111101 0110111 11110011 01000101 01111101 100100101 11011101 11100101 11011101 110111 11011 0110101 01010101 00010010 1101011 1101101 11011101 11110111 01000101 01010100 1010111 10010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,858 |
Words | 357 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 57 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,489 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 351 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 76 Views
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"Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 2. Interlude I." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18775/tales-of-a-wayside-inn-%3A-part-2.-interlude-i.>.
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