Analysis of Robin Hood's Flight
James Henry Leigh Hunt 1784 (Southgate, London) – 1859
Robin Hood's mother, these twelve years now,
Has been gone from her earthly home;
And Robin has paid, he scarce knew how,
A sum for a noble tomb.
The church-yard lies on a woody hill,
But open to sun and air:
It seems as if the heaven still
Were looking and smiling there.
Often when Robin looked that way,
He looked through a sweet thin tear;
But he looked in a different manner, they say,
Towards the Abbey of Vere.
He cared not for its ill-got wealth,
He felt not for his pride;
He had youth, and strength, and health,
And enough for one beside.
But he thought of his gentle mother's cheek
How it sunk away,
And how she used to grow more weak
And weary every day;
And how, when trying a hymn, her voice
At evening would expire,
How unlike it was the arrogant noise
Of the hard throats in the quire:
And Robin thought too of the poor,
How they toiled without their share,
And how the alms at the abbey-door
But kept them as they were:
And he thought him then of the friars again,
Who rode jingling up and down
With their trappings and things as fine as the king's,
Though they wore but a shaven crown.
And then bold Robin he thought of the king,
How he got all his forests and deer,
And how he made the hungry swing
If they killed but one in a year.
And thinking thus, as Robin stood,
Digging his bow in the ground,
He was aware in Gamelyn Wood,
Of one who looked around.
"And what is Will doing," said Robin then,
"That he looks so fearful and wan?"
"Oh my dear master that should have been,
I am a weary man."
"A weary man," said Will Scarlet, "am I;
For unless I pilfer this wood
To sell to the fletchers, for want I shall die
Here in this forest so good.
"Here in this forest where I have been
So happy and so stout,
And like a palfrey on the green
Have carried you about."
"And why, Will Scarlet, not come to me?
Why not to Robin, Will?
For I remember thy love and thy glee,
And the scar that marks thee still;
"And not a soul of my uncle's men
To such a pass should come,
While Robin can find in his pocket or bin
A penny or a crumb.
"Stay thee, Will Scarlet, man, stay awhile;
And kindle a fire for me."
And into the wood for half a mile,
He has vanished instantly.
Robin Hood, with his cheek on fire,
Has drawn his bow so stern,
And a leaping deer, with one leap higher,
Lies motionless in the fern.
Robin, like a proper knight
As he should have been,
Carved a part of the shoulder right,
And bore off a portion clean.
"Oh, what hast thou done, dear master mine!
What hast thou done for me?"
"Roast it, Will, for excepting wine,
Thou shalt feast thee royally."
And Scarlet took and half roasted it,
Blubbering with blinding tears,
And ere he had eaten a second bit,
A trampling came to their ears.
They heard the tramp of a horse's feet,
And they listened and kept still,
For Will was feeble and knelt by the meat;
And Robin he stood by Will.
"Seize him, seize him!" the Abbot cried
With his fat voice through the trees;
Robin a smooth arrow felt and eyed,
And Will jumped stout with his knees.
"Seize him, seize him!" and now they appear
The Abbot and foresters three.
"'Twas I," cried Will Scarlet, "that killed the deer."
Says Robin, "Now let not a man come near,
Or he's dead as dead can be."
But on they came, and with an embrace
The first one the arrow met;
And he came pitching forward and fell on his face,
Like a stumbler in the street.
The others turned to that Abbot vain,
But "seize him!" still he cried,
And as the second turned again,
An arrow was in his side.
"Seize him, seize him still, I say,"
Cried the Abbot in furious chafe,
"Or these dogs will grow so bold some day,
Even priests will not be safe."
A fatal word! for as he sat
Urging the sword to cut,
An arrow stuck in his paunch so fat,
As in a leathern butt,
As in a leathern butt of wine;
Or dough, a household lump;
Or a pumpkin; or a good beef chine,
Stuck that arrow with a dump.
"Truly," said Robin without fear,
Sm
Scheme | ABAX CDCD EDEF GHGH IEIE XJXJ XDXK LMXM NFNF OPOP LXQX RORO QSTS UCUC LVQV WUWU KXKX YQYT ZUZU 1 X1 X 2 C2 C H3 H3 FUFFU 4 X4 2 XHLH E5 E5 6 7 6 7 Z8 A8 FB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101111 11110101 010111111 0110101 011110101 1101101 11110101 0100101 10110111 1110111 111001001011 0101011 11111111 111111 1110101 0011101 1111110101 11101 01111111 0101001 011100101 110101 1011101001 1011001 01011101 1110111 010110101 111110 01111101001 111101 11100111101 11110101 0111011101 111111001 01110101 11111001 01011101 1011001 1101011 111101 0111101101 11111001 111101111 110101 0101111011 10111011 1110111111 1011011 101101111 110011 01010101 110101 011101111 111101 1101011011 0011111 010111101 110111 11011011011 010101 111101101 01001011 001011101 1110100 101111110 111111 0010111110 1100001 1010101 11111 10110101 0110101 111111101 111111 1111101 1111100 010101101 11101 0111100101 0101111 110110101 0110011 1111001101 0101111 11110101 1111101 100110101 0111111 111101101 01001001 1111101101 1101110111 1111111 111101101 0110101 011101001111 101001 010111101 111111 01010101 1101011 1111111 101001001 111111111 1011111 01011111 100111 110101111 10011 1001111 11011 101010111 1110101 10110011 1 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,963 |
Words | 782 |
Sentences | 36 |
Stanzas | 29 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2 |
Lines Amount | 115 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:51 min read
- 61 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Robin Hood's Flight" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20119/robin-hood%27s-flight>.
Discuss this James Henry Leigh Hunt 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