Analysis of The Pagan World
Matthew Arnold 1822 (Laleham) – 1888 (Liverpool)
In his cool hall, with haggard eyes,
The Roman noble lay;
He drove abroad, in furious guise,
Along the Appian way.
He made a feast, drank fierce and fast,
And crowned his hair with flowers -
No easier nor no quicker passed
The impracticable hours.
The brooding East with awe beheld
Her impious younger world.
The Roman tempest swelled and swelled,
And on her head was hurled.
The East bowed low before the blast
In patient, deep disdain;
She let the legions thunder past,
And plunged in thought again.
So well she mused, a morning broke
Across her spirit grey;
A conquering, new-born joy awoke,
And filled her life with day.
'Poor world,' she cried, 'so deep accurst
That runn'st from pole to pole
To seek a draught to slake thy thirst -
Go, seek it in thy soul!'
She heard it, the victorious West,
In crown and sword arrayed!
She felt the void which mined her breast,
She shivered and obeyed.
She veiled her eagles, snapped her sword,
And laid her sceptre down;
Her stately purple she abhorred,
And her imperial crown.
She broke her flutes, she stopped her sports,
Her artists could not please;
She tore her books, she shut her courts,
She fled her palaces;
Lust of the eye and pride of life
She left it all behind,
And hurried, torn with inward strife,
The wilderness to find.
Tears washed the trouble from her face!
She changed into a child!
Mid weeds and wrecks she stood -a place
Of ruin -but she smiled!
Scheme | ABAB CDCD CEXE CXCX FBFB CGXG HIHI JKJK LXLX MNMN OPOP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (82%) |
Metre | 01111101 010101 110101001 0101001 11011101 0111110 110011101 00100010 0101111 0010101 01010101 010111 01110101 010101 11010101 010101 11110101 010101 010011101 010111 1111111 111111 11011111 111011 111001001 010101 11011101 110001 11010101 010101 01010101 0001001 11011101 010111 11011101 110100 11010111 111101 01011101 010011 11010101 110101 11011101 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,374 |
Words | 260 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 15, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 119 Views
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