Analysis of Featuring Duncan Campbell Scott (The Half-Breed Girl)
The Half-Breed Girl
1She is free of the trap and the paddle,
2 The portage and the trail,
3But something behind her savage life
4 Shines like a fragile veil.
5Her dreams are undiscovered,
6 Shadows trouble her breast,
7When the time for resting cometh
8 Then least is she at rest.
9Oft in the morns of winter,
10 When she visits the rabbit snares,
11An appearance floats in the crystal air
12 Beyond the balsam firs.
13Oft in the summer mornings
14 When she strips the nets of fish,
15The smell of the dripping net-twine
16 Gives to her heart a wish.
17But she cannot learn the meaning
18 Of the shadows in her soul,
19The lights that break and gather,
20 The clouds that part and roll,
21The reek of rock-built cities,
22 Where her fathers dwelt of yore,
23The gleam of loch and shealing,
24 The mist on the moor,
25Frail traces of kindred kindness,
26 Of feud by hill and strand,
27The heritage of an age-long life
28 In a legendary land.
29She wakes in the stifling wigwam,
30 Where the air is heavy and wild,
31She fears for something or nothing
32 With the heart of a frightened child.
33She sees the stars turn slowly
34 Past the tangle of the poles,
35Through the smoke of the dying embers,
36 Like the eyes of dead souls.
37Her heart is shaken with longing
38 For the strange, still years,
39For what she knows and knows not,
40 For the wells of ancient tears.
41A voice calls from the rapids,
42 Deep, careless and free,
43A voice that is larger than her life
44 Or than her death shall be.
45She covers her face with her blanket,
46 Her fierce soul hates her breath,
47As it cries with a sudden passion
48 For life or death.
Scheme | X XABAXCXCDEXFXGXGHIDIXXHXXJBJXKHKLMFMHXXEXLBLXNXN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111 1111010010 010001 110010101 110101 011010 11001 10111010 111111 1001110 11100101 1010100101 010101 1001010 1110111 01101011 110101 11101010 101001 0111010 011101 0111110 1010111 011101 01101 11011010 111101 010011111 001001 11001010 10111001 11110110 10110101 1101110 1010101 101101010 101111 01110110 10111 1111011 1011101 0111010 11001 011110101 110111 110011010 011101 111101010 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,709 |
Words | 347 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 48 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 642 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 191 |
About this poem
Another poem by Scott. You tube video link https://youtu.be/l4OK47jrCe8
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Written on March 28, 2023
Submitted by dougb.19255 on March 28, 2023
Modified by dougb.19255 on March 28, 2023
- 1:44 min read
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Citation
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"Featuring Duncan Campbell Scott (The Half-Breed Girl)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/155111/featuring-duncan-campbell-scott-%28the-half-breed-girl%29>.
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