Analysis of The Ballad Of The Dark Ladie. A Fragment.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Beneath yon birch with silver bark,
And boughs so pendulous and fair,
The brook falls scatter'd down the rock:
And all is mossy there!
And there upon the moss she sits,
The Dark Ladie in silent pain;
The heavy tear is in her eye,
And drops and swells again.
Three times she sends her little page
Up the castled mountain's breast,
If he might find the Knight that wears
The Griffin for his crest.
The sun was sloping down the sky,
And she had linger'd there all day,
Counting moments, dreaming fears--
Oh wherefore can he stay?
She hears a rustling o'er the brook,
She sees far off a swinging bough!
''Tis He! 'Tis my betrothed Knight!
Lord Falkland, it is Thou!'
She springs, she clasps him round the neck,
She sobs a thousand hopes and fears,
Her kisses glowing on his cheeks
She quenches with her tears.
* * * * *
'My friends with rude ungentle words
They scoff and bid me fly to thee!
O give me shelter in thy breast!
O shield and shelter me!
'My Henry, I have given thee much,
I gave what I can ne'er recall,
I gave my heart, I gave my peace,
O Heaven! I gave thee all.'
The Knight made answer to the Maid,
While to his heart he held her hand,
'Nine castles hath my noble sire,
None statelier in the land.
'The fairest one shall be my love's,
The fairest castle of the nine!
Wait only till the stars peep out,
The fairest shall be thine:
'Wait only till the hand of eve
Hath wholly closed yon western bars,
And through the dark we two will steal
Beneath the twinkling stars!'--
'The dark? the dark? No! not the dark?
The twinkling stars? How, Henry? How?
O God! 'twas in the eye of noon
He pledged his sacred vow!
'And in the eye of noon my love
Shall lead me from my mother's door,
Sweet boys and girls all clothed in white
Strewing flowers before:
'But first the nodding minstrels go
With music meet for lordly bowers,
The children next in snow-white vests,
Strewing buds and flowers!
'And then my love and I shall pace,
My jet black hair in pearly braids,
Between our comely bachelors
And blushing bridal maids.'
* * * * *
Scheme | ABXB XXCX XDED CFGF XHIH XGXE XJDJ XKXK XLXL XMXM XNXN AHXH XOIO XPXP XQPQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01111101 01110001 01110101 01111 01010111 0110101 01011001 010101 11110101 101101 11110111 010111 01110101 01110111 1010101 11111 110101001 11110101 111111 110111 11111101 11010101 01010111 110101 1 111111 11011111 11110011 110101 110111011 1111111 11111111 1101111 01110101 11111101 110111010 11001 01011111 01010101 11010111 010111 11010111 11011101 01011111 0101001 01011101 010011101 11100111 111101 00011111 11111101 11011101 11001 11010101 11011110 01010111 11010 01110111 11110101 01101010 010101 1 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,976 |
Words | 392 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 1:58 min read
- 190 Views
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"The Ballad Of The Dark Ladie. A Fragment." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34335/the-ballad-of-the-dark-ladie.--a-fragment.>.
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