Analysis of On The Downs
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
THE little moon is dead,
Drowned in the flood of rain
That drips from roof of byre and shed,
And splashes in the lane:
The leafless lean-flanked lane where last year's leaves are spread.
The sheep cower in the fold,
Where the rain beats them blind,
Where scarce the rotten hurdles hold
Against the weary wind
That moans with angry tears across the pathless wold.
Dim lights across the down
Show where the lone farms lie,
The twisted trees have lost their brown,
Are black against the sky,
And far below blink lights, gay lights of Brighton town.
Ah, was the moon once bright?
And did the thyme smell sweet
Where, between dewy dusk and light,
The warm turf felt our feet,
And bean-flowers scented all the enchanted summer night?
Did sheep-bells tinkle clear
Across the golden haze?
Were the woods ever leafy-dear,
In those forgotten days?
The wet wind shrieks denial: no other voice speaks here.
Scheme | ABABA CDCDC EFEFE GHGHG IJIJX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (28%) |
Metre | 010111 100111 11111101 010001 010111111111 0110001 101111 11010101 010101 11110101011 110101 110111 01011111 110101 010111111101 110111 010111 10110101 0111101 01101010010101 111101 010101 00110101 010101 0111010110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 902 |
Words | 159 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 142 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 92 Views
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"On The Downs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8879/on-the-downs>.
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