Analysis of Thou Leanest to the Shell of Night
James Joyce 1882 (Rathgar) – 1941 (Zürich)
Thou leanest to the shell of night,
Dear lady, a divining ear.
In that soft choiring of delight
What sound hath made thy heart to fear?
Seemed it of rivers rushing forth
From the grey deserts of the north?
That mood of thine
Is his, if thou but scan it well,
Who a mad tale bequeaths to us
At ghosting hour conjurable -- -
And all for some strange name he read
In Purchas or in Holinshed.
| Scheme | AXAXBB XCXCXA |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 11010111 11000101 0111101 11111111 11110101 10110101 1111 11111111 1011111 11101 01111111 01101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 396 |
| Words | 79 |
| Sentences | 5 |
| Stanzas | 2 |
| Stanza Lengths | 6, 6 |
| Lines Amount | 12 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 151 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 23 sec read
- 328 Views
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