Analysis of Earth's Answer

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



Earth raised up her head
 From the darkness dread and drear,
 Her light fled,
 Stony, dread,
 And her locks covered with grey despair.

'Prisoned on watery shore,
 Starry jealousy does keep my den
 Cold and hoar;
 Weeping o're,
 I hear the father of the ancient men.

'Selfish father of men!
 Cruel, jealous, selfish fear!
 Can delight,
 Chained in night,
 The virgins of youth and morning bear?

'Does spring hide its joy,
 When buds and blossoms grow?
 Does the sower
 Sow by night,
 Or the plowman in darkness plough?

'Break this heavy chain,
 That does freeze my bones around!
 Selfish, vain,
 Eternal bane,
 That free love with bondage bound.'


Scheme ABAAB BCBBC CBDDB XBBDX EFEEF
Poetic Form Tetractys  (52%)
Metre 11101 1010101 011 101 001101101 1011001 101001111 101 1011 1101010101 101011 1010101 101 101 010110101 11111 110101 1010 111 10100101 11101 1111101 101 0101 1111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 639
Words 111
Sentences 10
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 19
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 97
Words per stanza (avg) 22
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

33 sec read
349

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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