Analysis of A Cameo
Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837 (London) – 1909 (London)
THERE WAS a graven image of Desire
Painted with red blood on a ground of gold
Passing between the young men and the old,
And by him Pain, whose body shone like fire,
And Pleasure with gaunt hands that grasped their hire.
Of his left wrist, with fingers clenched and cold,
The insatiable Satiety kept hold,
Walking with feet unshod that pashed the mire.
The senses and the sorrows and the sins,
And the strange loves that suck the breasts of Hate
Till lips and teeth bite in their sharp indenture,
Followed like beasts with flap of wings and fins.
Death stood aloof behind a gaping grate,
Upon whose lock was written Peradventure.
Scheme | ABBAABBCDEADEA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101010 1011110111 1001011001 01111101110 01011111110 1111110101 00100111 101111101 0100010001 0011110111 11011011010 1011111101 1101010101 01111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 624 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 504 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 113 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 162 Views
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"A Cameo" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1230/a-cameo>.
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