Analysis of The Kosa
Thomas Pringle 1789 (Blakelaw) – 1834
The free-born Kosa still doth hold
The fields his fathers held of old;
With club and spear, in jocund ranks,
Still hunts the elk by Chumi's banks:
By Keisi's meads his herds are lowing;
On Debè's slopes his gardens glowing,
Where laughing maids at sunset roam,
To bear the juicy melons home:
And striplings from Kalumna's wood
Bring wild grapes and the pigeon's brood,
With fragrant hoard of honey-bee
Rifled from the hollow tree:
And herdsmen shout from rock to rock;
And through the glen the hamlets smoke;
And children gambol round the kraal,
To greet their sires at evening-fall:
And matrons sweep the cabin floor,
And spread the mat beside the door,
And with dry fagots wake the flame
To dress the wearied huntsmen's game.
Bright gleams the fire: its ruddy blaze
On many a dusky visage plays.
On forkèd twigs the game is drest;
The neighbours share the simple feast:
The honey-mead, the millet-ale,
Flow round -- and flow the jest and tale;
Wild legends of the ancient day,
Of hunting feat, of warlike fray;
And now come smiles, and now come sighs,
As mirth and grief alternate rise.
Or should a sterner strain awake,
Like sudden flame in summer-brake,
Bursts fiercely forth in battle song
The tale of Amakósa's wrong;
Throbs every warrior bosom high,
With lightning flashes every eye,
And, in wild cadence, rings the sound
Of barbèd javelins clashing round.
But lo, like a broad shield on high,
The moon gleams in the midnight sky.
'Tis time to part: the watch-dog's bay
Beside the folds has died away.
'Tis time to rest: the mat is spread,
The hardy hunter's simple bed:
His wife her dreaming infant hushes
On the low cabin's couch of rushes;
Softly he draws its door of hide,
And, stretched by his Gulúwi's side,
Sleeps soundly till the peep of dawn
Wakes on the hills the dappled fawn;
Then forth again he gaily bounds,
With club and spear and questing hounds.
Scheme | AABBCCDDXXEEXXFFGGHH IIAXFFJJKKLLMMNNOO NNJJPPBXQQRRSS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110111 01110111 1101011 1101111 11111110 111111010 1101111 11010101 01111 11100101 11011101 1010101 01011111 01010101 0101101 11111101 01010101 01010101 0111101 1101011 110101101 11001101 11110111 0110101 01010101 11010101 11010101 1101111 01110111 11011001 11010101 11010101 11010101 011111 1100100101 110101001 00110101 1111101 11101111 0110011 11110111 01011101 11110111 01010101 11010101 10111110 10111111 0111111 11010111 1101011 11011101 1101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,831 |
Words | 331 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 18, 14 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 487 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 100 Views
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"The Kosa" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37119/the-kosa>.
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