Analysis of Exile Of Erin



There came to the beach a poor Exile of Erin,
The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill:
For his country he sign'd, when at twilight repairing
To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill.

But the day-star attracted his eye's sad devotion,
For it rose o'er his own native isle fo the ocean,
Where once, in the fire of his youthful emotion.
He sang the bold anthem of Erin go bragh.

Sad is my fate! said the heart-broken stranger;
The wild deer and wolf to a covert can flee,
But I have no refuge from famine and danger,
A home and a country remain not to me.

Never again, in my green sunny bowers,
Where my forefathers lived, shall I spend the sweet hours,
Or cover my harp with the wild-woven flowers,
And strike to the numbers of Erin go bragh!

Erin, my country! though sad and forsaken,
In dreams I revisit thy sea-beaten shore;
But, alas! in a far foreign land I awaken,
And sigh for the friends who can meet me no more!

Oh curel fate! wilt thou never replace me
In a mansion of peace, where no perils can chase me?
Never again shall my brothers embrace me?
They died to defend me, or live to deplore!

Where is my cabin-door, fast by the wild wood?
Sisters and sire! did ye weep for its fall?
Where is the mother that look'd on my childhood?
And where ist the bosom-friend, dearer than all?

Oh! my sad heart! long abandon'd by pleasure,
Why did it dote on a fast-fading treasure?
Tears, like the rain drop, may fall without measure,
But rapture and beauty they cannot recal.

Yet all its sad recollections suppressing,
One dying wish my lone bosom can draw:
Erin! an exile bequeaths thee his blessing!
Land of my forefathers! Erin go bragh!

Buried and cold, when my heart stills her motion,
Green by the fields, sweetest isle of the ocean!
And thy harp-striking bards sind aloud with devotion,
Erin mavournin, Erin go bragh!
  


Scheme XABA CCCD DEDE FFFD CDCD EEED GHGH DDDA BDBD CCCD
Poetic Form
Metre 11101011110 01111111001 111011111010 11001101101 1011010111010 11110111011010 1100101110010 11011011011 11111011010 01101101011 111110110010 01001001111 10010111010 111011110110 110111011010 01101011011 10110110010 01101011101 1010011011010 01101111111 111111011 0010111110111 10011110011 11101111101 11110111011 10010111111 1101011111 01101011011 11111010110 11111011010 11011110110 1100101101 1111010010 1101111011 101111110 111101011 10011111010 11011011010 0111011011010 1011011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,815
Words 347
Sentences 29
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 141
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:45 min read
6

Thomas Campbell

Thomas Campbell was an Irish Protestant clergyman, best known as a travel writer and for his accounts of the circle of Samuel Johnson. more…

All Thomas Campbell poems | Thomas Campbell Books

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