Analysis of The Humble Bee
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)
Burly dozing humblebee!
Where thou art is clime for me.
Let them sail for Porto Rique,
Far-off heats through seas to seek,
I will follow thee alone,
Thou animated torrid zone!
Zig-zag steerer, desert-cheerer,
Let me chase thy waving lines,
Keep me nearer, me thy hearer,
Singing over shrubs and vines.
Insect lover of the sun,
Joy of thy dominion!
Sailor of the atmosphere,
Swimmer through the waves of air,
Voyager of light and noon,
Epicurean of June,
Wait I prithee, till I come
Within ear-shot of thy hum,—
All without is martyrdom.
When the south wind, in May days,
With a net of shining haze,
Silvers the horizon wall,
And, with softness touching all,
Tints the human countenance
With a color of romance,
And, infusing subtle heats,
Turns the sod to violets,
Thou in sunny solitudes,
Rover of the underwoods,
The green silence dost displace,
With thy mellow breezy bass.
Hot midsummer's petted crone,
Sweet to me thy drowsy tune,
Telling of countless sunny hours,
Long days, and solid banks of flowers,
Of gulfs of sweetness without bound
In Indian wildernesses found,
Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure,
Firmest cheer and bird-like pleasure.
Aught unsavory or unclean,
Hath my insect never seen,
But violets and bilberry bells,
Maple sap and daffodels,
Grass with green flag half-mast high,
Succory to match the sky,
Columbine with horn of honey,
Scented fern, and agrimony,
Clover, catch fly, adders-tongue,
And brier-roses dwelt among;
All beside was unknown waste,
All was picture as he passed.
Wiser far than human seer,
Yellow-breeched philosopher!
Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care,
Leave the chaff and take the wheat,
When the fierce north-western blast
Cools sea and land so far and fast,
Thou already slumberest deep,—
Woe and want thou canst out-sleep,—
Want and woe which torture us,
Thy sleep makes ridiculous.
Scheme | XABBCCDEDE FFDDGGHHH IIJJXXXXEXXX CGKKLLDD MMXEXBACBBXN DDDODONNPPQQ |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101 1111111 1111101 1111111 1110101 1100101 111101 1111101 11101110 1010101 110101 111010 101010 1010111 1001101 001011 111111 0111111 1011100 1011011 1011101 1000101 0110101 1010100 1010101 0010101 1011100 10101 101010 0110101 1110101 11101 1111101 101101010 110101110 11110011 010011 1100101010 10101110 10100101 111101 1100011 10101 1111111 11101 1011110 10101 101111 01010101 1011011 1110111 1011101 1010100 1010111 1010111 1111101 1010101 1011101 11011101 101011 1011111 1011101 1110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,833 |
Words | 319 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 9, 12, 8, 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 63 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 247 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:36 min read
- 102 Views
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"The Humble Bee" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29868/the-humble-bee>.
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