Analysis of Midnight Mass For The Dying Year.
William Henry Giles Kingston 1814 (Westminster, London) – 1880 (Willesden, Middlesex )
Yes, the Year is growing old,
And his eye is pale and bleared!
Death, with frosty hand and cold,
Plucks the old man by the beard,
Sorely, - sorely!
The leaves are falling, falling,
Solemnly and slow;
Caw! caw! the rooks are calling,
It is a sound of woe,
A sound of woe!
Through woods and mountain passes
The winds, like anthems, roll;
They are chanting solemn masses,
Singing, "Pray for this poor soul,
Pray, - pray!"
And the hooded clouds, like friars,
Tell their beads in drops of rain,
And patter their doleful prayers; -
But their prayers are all in vain,
All in vain!
There he stands in the foul weather,
The foolish, fond Old Year,
Crowned with wild flowers, and with heather,
Like weak, despised Lear,
A king, - a king!
Then comes the summer-like day,
Bids the old man rejoice!
His joy! his last! Oh, the old man grey
Loveth that ever-soft voice,
Gentle and low.
To the crimson woods he saith -
To the voice gentle and low
Of the soft air, like a daughter's breath -
"Pray do not mock me so!
Do not laugh at me!"
And now the sweet day is dead;
Cold in his arms it lies;
No stain from its breath is spread
Over the glassy skies,
No mist or stain!
Then, too, the Old Year dieth,
And the forests utter a moan,
Like the voice of one who crieth
In the wilderness alone,
"Vex not his ghost!"
Then comes, with an awful roar,
Gathering and sounding on,
The storm-wind from Labrador,
The wind Euroclydon,
The storm-wind!
Howl! howl! and from the forest
Sweep the red leaves away!
Would, the sins that thou abhorrest,
O Soul! could thus decay,
And be swept away!
For there shall come a mightier blast,
There shall be a darker day;
And the stars, from heaven down-cast,
Like red leaves be swept away!
Kyrie, eleyson!
Christe, eleyson!
Scheme | AAAXB CDCDD EFEFG XHXHH IJIJC GKGKD LDLDB MNMNH LOLOX PXPHX XGAGG QGQGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011101 0111101 1110101 1011101 1010 0111010 10001 1101110 110111 0111 1101010 011101 11101010 1011111 11 00101110 1110111 0101101 1111101 101 11100110 010111 111100110 11011 0101 1101011 101101 111110111 111011 1001 1010111 1011001 101110101 111111 11111 0101111 101111 1111111 100101 1111 110111 00101001 1011111 0010001 1111 1111101 1000101 011110 011 011 1101010 101101 101111 111101 01101 111101001 1110101 00111011 1111101 11 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,707 |
Words | 336 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6 |
Lines Amount | 61 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
Font size:
Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 7 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Midnight Mass For The Dying Year." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/57065/midnight-mass-for-the-dying-year.>.
Discuss this William Henry Giles Kingston 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