Analysis of Night Piece

James Joyce 1882 (Rathgar) – 1941 (Zürich)



Gaunt in gloom,
The pale stars their torches,
Enshrouded, wave.
Ghostfires from heaven's far verges faint illume,
Arches on soaring arches,
Night's sindark nave.

Seraphim,
The lost hosts awaken
To service till
In moonless gloom each lapses muted, dim,
Raised when she has and shaken
Her thurible.

And long and loud,
To night's nave upsoaring,
A starknell tolls
As the bleak incense surges, cloud on cloud,
Voidward from the adoring
Waste of souls.


Scheme AXBAXB ACDXCD EFGEFG
Poetic Form
Metre 101 011110 0101 111011011 1011010 111 1 011010 1101 011110101 1111010 01 0101 1111 011 1010110111 110010 111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 438
Words 75
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 119
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

23 sec read
366

James Joyce

ames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century.  more…

All James Joyce poems | James Joyce Books

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