Analysis of Mary Leslie
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch 1863 (Bodmin, Cornwall) – 1944 (Cornwall)
O Mary Leslie, blithe and shrill
The bugles blew for Spain:
And you below the Castle Hill
Stood in the crowd your lane.
Then hearts were wild to watch us pass,
Yet laith to let us go!
While mine said, 'Fare-ye-well, my lass!'
And yours, 'God keep my Jo!'
Here by the bivouac fire, above
These fields of savage play,
I'll lift my love to meet thy love
Twa thousand miles away,
Where yonder, yonder by the stars,
Nightlong there rins a burn,
And maids with lovers at the wars
May list their wraiths' return.
More careless yet my spirit grows
Of fame, more sick of blood:
But I can think of Badajoz,
And yet that God is good.
Beyond the siege, beyond the stour,
Beyond the sack of towns,
I reach to pluck ae lily-floo'r
Where leaders press for crowns.
O Mary! lily! bow'd and wet
With mair than mornin's rain!
The bugles up the Lawnmarket
Shall sound us home again.
Then fare-ye-well, these foreign lands,
And be damn'd their bitter drouth.
With your dear face between my hands
And the cup held to my mouth,
My love,
It's clean cup to my mouth!
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEF XGXG XHCXIJIJ XBHX KLKLEL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 010111 01010101 100111 11011111 111111 11111111 011111 110101001 111101 11111111 110101 11010101 11101 01110101 111101 11011101 111111 111111 011111 01010101 010111 11111101 110111 11010101 11111 010101 111101 11111101 0111101 11110111 0011111 11 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,016 |
Words | 199 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 8, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 79 Views
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"Mary Leslie" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35015/mary-leslie>.
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