Analysis of To A Friend, In Answer To A Melancholy Letter
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Away, those cloudy looks, that lab'ring sigh,
The peevish offspring of a sickly hour!
Nor meanly thus complain of fortune's power,
When the blind gamester throws a luckless die.
Yon setting sun flashes a mournful gleam
Behind those broken clouds, his stormy train:
To-morrow shall the many-colord main
In brightness roll beneath his orient beam!
Wild as th' autumnal gust, the hand of Time
Flies o'er his mystic lyre! in shadowy dance
Th' alternate groups of joy and grief advance,
Responsive to his varying strains sublime!
Bears on its wing each hour a load of fate.
The swain, who lulled by Seine's wild murmurs, led
His weary oxen to their nightly shed,
To-day may rule a tempest-troubled State.
Nor shall not fortune with a vengeful smile
Survey the sanguinary despot's might,
And haply hurl the pageant from his height,
Unwept to wander in some savage isle.
There, shiv'ring sad beneath the tempest's frown,
Round his tired limbs to wrap the purple vest;
And mixed with nails and beads, an equal jest!
Barter for food the jewels of his crown.
Scheme | ABBA CDDC EFFE GHHG IJJI KLLK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 0111011111 0101101010 1110111010 101110101 1101100101 0111011101 110101011 0101011101 111101010111 110110101001 111001110101 01011100101 11111100111 0111111101 1101011101 1111010101 1111010101 010111 011010111 111001101 11101011 11101110101 0111011101 1011010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,033 |
Words | 181 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 138 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 90 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"To A Friend, In Answer To A Melancholy Letter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34376/to-a-friend%2C-in-answer-to-a-melancholy-letter>.
Discuss this Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In