Analysis of The Morning Dream, A Ballad. To The Tune Of 'Tweed Side.'
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
'Twas in the glad season of spring,
Asleep at the dawn of the day,
I dream’d what I cannot but sing,
So pleasant it seem'd as I lay.
I dream’d that, on ocean afloat,
Far hence to the westward I sail'd,
While the billows high lifted the boat,
And the fresh-blowing breeze never fail'd.
In the steerage a woman I saw,
Such at least was the form that she wore,
Whose beauty impress'd me with awe,
Ne'er taught me by woman before.
She sat, and a shield at her side
Shed light, like a sun on the waves,
And smiling divinely, she cried--
'I go to make freemen of slaves.'
Then, raising her voice to a strain
The sweetest that ear ever heard,
She sung of the slave's broken chain,
Wherever her glory appear'd.
Some clouds, which had over us hung,
Fled, chased by her melody clear,
And methought while she liberty sung,
'Twas liberty only to hear.
Thus swiftly dividing the flood,
To a slave-cultured island we came,
Where a demon, her enemy, stood--
Oppression his terrible name.
In his hand, as the sign of his sway,
A scourge hung with lashes he bore,
And stood looking out for his prey
From Africa’s sorrowful shore.
But soon as, approaching the land,
That goddess-like woman he view'd,
The scourge he let fall from his hand,
With blood of his subjects imbrued.
I saw him both sicken and die,
And, the moment the monster expir'd,
Heard shouts, that ascended the sky,
From thousands with rapture inspir'd.
Awaking, how could I but muse
At what such a dream should betide?
But soon my ear caught the glad news,
Which served my weak thought for a guide;
That Britannia, renown'd o'er the waves
For the hatred she ever has shown
To the black-sceptred rulers of slaves,
Resolves to have none of her own.
Scheme | ABABCDCD XEXEFGFG HIHXJXJX XKXKBEBE LXLBMXMI NFNFGOGO |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011011 01101101 11111011 11011111 11111001 11101011 101011001 001101101 00101011 111101111 11001111 11111001 11001101 11101101 01001011 11111011 11001101 01011101 11101101 01001001 11111011 11101001 01111001 11001011 11001001 101101011 101001001 01011001 011101111 01111011 01101111 111001 11101001 11011011 01111111 1111101 11111001 001001001 11101001 110110010 111111 11101101 11111011 11111101 10100011001 101011011 10111011 01111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,661 |
Words | 313 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 217 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 43 Views
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"The Morning Dream, A Ballad. To The Tune Of 'Tweed Side.'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40159/the-morning-dream%2C-a-ballad.-to-the-tune-of-%27tweed-side.%27>.
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