Analysis of Songs for the Soldiers
Isabella Valancy Crawford 1850 (Dublin) – 1887 (Toronto)
IF songs be sung let minstrels strike their harps
To large and joyous strains, all thunder-winged
To beat along vast shores. Ay, let their notes
Wild into eagles soaring toward the sun,
And voiced like bugles bursting through the dawn
When armies leap to life! Give them such breasts
As hold immortal fires, and they shall fly,
Swept with our little sphere through all the change
That waits a whirling world.
Joy's an immortal;
She hath a fiery fibre in her flesh
That will not droop or die; so let her chant
The pæans of the dead, where holy Grief
Hath, trembling, thrust the feeble mist aside
That veils her dead, and in the wondrous clasp
Of re-possession ceases to be Grief.
Joy's ample voice shall still roll over all,
And chronicle the heroes to young hearts
Who knew them not.....
There's glory on the sword
That keeps its scabbard-sleep, unless the foe
Beat at the wall, then freely leaps to light
And thrusts to keep the sacred towers of Home
And the dear lines that map the nation out upon the world.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOMPQRSTUVI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110111 1101011101 1101111111 10110100101 0111010101 1101111111 11010100111 11101011101 110101 11010 11010010001 1111111101 0111011101 11001010101 1101000101 1101010111 1101111101 0100010111 1111 110101 1111010101 1101110111 01110101011 00111101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,039 |
Words | 185 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 797 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 58 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Songs for the Soldiers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19924/songs-for-the-soldiers>.
Discuss this Isabella Valancy Crawford poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In