Analysis of On The Christening Of A Friend's Child

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)



This day among the faithful placed,
And fed with fontal manna,
O with maternal title graced
Dear Anna's dearest Anna!--

While others wish thee wise and fair,
A maid of spotless fame,
I'll breathe this more compendious prayer--
May'st thou deserve thy name!

Thy mother's name--a potent spell,
That bids the virtues hie
From mystic grove and living cell
Confess'd to fancy's eye;--

Meek quietness without offence;
Content in homespun kirtle;
True love; and true love's innocence,
White blossom of the myrtle!

Associates of thy name, sweet child!
These virtues may'st thou win;
With face as eloquently mild
To say, they lodge within.

So, when her tale of days all flown,
Thy mother shall be mist here;
When Heaven at length shall claim its own,
And angels snatch their sister;

Some hoary-headed friend, perchance,
May gaze with stifled breath;
And oft, in momentary trance,
Forget the waste of death.

Ev'n thus a lovely rose I view'd,
In summer-swelling pride;
Nor mark'd the bud, that green and rude
Peep'd at the rose's side.

It chanced, I pass'd again that way
In autumn's latest hour,
And wond'ring saw the selfsame spray
Rich with the selfsame flower.

Ah, fond deceit! the rude green bud
Alike in shape, place, name,
Had bloom'd, where bloom'd its parent stud,
Another and the same!


Scheme ABAB CDCD EXEX FEFX GHGH IXIJ FKFK LMLM NJNJ ODOD
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101 011110 11010101 1101010 11011101 011101 111111 1110111 11010101 110101 11010101 01111 1100011 10011 11011100 1101010 010011111 1101111 11110001 111101 11011111 1101111 110111111 0101110 11010101 111101 0101001 010111 111010111 010101 11011101 110101 11110111 0101010 0111011 110110 11010111 010111 11111101 010001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,253
Words 221
Sentences 11
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 100
Words per stanza (avg) 22
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:11 min read
101

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. more…

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    Who wrote the poem ״Invictus״?
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