Analysis of Long Time I Lay In Little Ease

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



LONG TIME I LAY IN LITTLE EASE

LONG time I lay in little ease
Where, placed by the Turanian,
Marseilles, the many-masted, sees
The blue Mediterranean.

Now songful in the hour of sport,
Now riotous for wages,
She camps around her ancient port,
As ancient of the ages.

Algerian airs through all the place
Unconquerably sally;
Incomparable women pace
The shadows of the alley.

And high o'er dark and graving yard
And where the sky is paler,
The golden virgin of the guard
Shines, beckoning the sailor.

She hears the city roar on high,
Thief, prostitute, and banker;
She sees the masted vessels lie
Immovably at anchor.

She sees the snowy islets dot
The sea's immortal azure,
And If, that castellated spot,
Tower, turret, and embrasure.


Scheme A Abab cdcd efef ghgh ihih jhjh
Poetic Form
Metre 11110101 11110101 11101 010010101 0100100 11001011 1100110 11010101 1101010 010011101 110 01000101 011010 01101011 010111 01010101 1100010 11010111 110010 11010101 1110 11010101 0101010 01111 101001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 716
Words 128
Sentences 7
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 83
Words per stanza (avg) 18
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
100

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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