Analysis of Durham Cathedral
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
Those dark and silent aisles are fill’d with night,
There breathes no murmur, and there shines no light;
The graves beneath the pavement yield their gloom,
’Till the cathedral seems one mighty tomb.
The Cross invisible—the words unseen
That tell where Faith and Hope in death have been.
But day is breaking, and a rosy smile
Colours the depths of each sepulchral aisle.
The orient windows kindle with the morn,
And ’mid the darkness are their rainbows born ;
Each ray that brightens, and each hue that falls,
Attest some sacred sign upon the walls ;—
Some sculptured saint’s pale head—some graven line
Of promise, precept, or belief divine :
Then sounds arise, the echoes bear along
Through the resounding aisles the choral song.
The billowy music of the organ sweeps,
Like the vast anthem of uplifted deeps ;
The bells ring forth—the long dark night is done,
The sunshine of the Sabbath is begun.
What is that temple but a type sublime !
Such was the moral night of ancient time ;
Cold and obscure, in vain the king and sage
Gave law and learning to the darkened age.
There was no present faith, no future hope,
Earth bounded then the earth-drawn horoscope ;
Till to the east there came the promised star—
Till rose the Sun of Righteousness afar—
Till, on a world redeem’d, the Saviour shone,
Earth for his footstool—Heaven for his throne.
Scheme | AABBXXCCDDEEFFGGXEHH IIJJKKLLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1101011111 1111001111 0101010111 1001011101 0101000101 1111010111 1111000101 1011111 0101010101 010101111 1111001111 0111010101 1101111101 110110101 1101010101 1001010101 011010101 1011011001 0111011111 011010101 1111010101 1101011101 1001010101 1101010101 1111011101 110101110 1101110101 1101110001 11011011 111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,366 |
Words | 230 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 10 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 530 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 118 |
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"Durham Cathedral" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/45407/durham-cathedral>.
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