Analysis of Kaspar Is Dead
Jean Arp 1886 (Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine) – 1966 (Basel, Canton of Basel-Stadt)
(Translated by G P Skratz)
o god our kaspar is dead
& now there's no-one to steal away with the burning flag &
snap it every day in the dark cloud's braided hair.
no-one to crank the coffee-mill in the ancient cask.
no-one to conjure idyllic deer from the petrified grocery bag.
no-one to sniff ships umbrellas bee-keepers udders of wind
spindles of ozone no-one to filet the pyramids.
o god god god our good old kaspar is dead. lord lord
kaspar is dead.
heart-broken shark's teeth rattle with grief in the belfry
when we utter his given name. so i stick to his last,
sighing kaspar kaspar kaspar.
why have you deserted us. what form has your great soul
wandered into now. have you become a star or a chain of
water on a hot whirlwind or a plump breast of black light
or a transparent brick on the groaning drum of the rocks
of existence...
o now the crowns of our heads the soles of our feet wither
away & angels smolder on the funeral pyre.
the dark bowling alley thunders behind the sun & there's
no-one to wind the compasses & the wheels of wheelbarrows.
no-one to dine with the phosphorescent rat at the barefoot
table.
no-one to drive off the wind devil when he tries to seduce
the horses.
no-one to teach us monograms in the stars.
his bust will adorn all truly noble firesides but there is
no snuff & comfort for a dead head.
Scheme | A BCX X C XA XB XXD XXXAA DD AA XX AA A AB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101111 11101011 1111110110101 1110010011101 1111010100101 11110010110101001 11111010110111 111111010100 11111011101111 1011 1101110110010 11101101111111 10101010 1110101111111 100111101011011 1010111011111 10010110101101 1010 1101110101110110 0110101010010 0110101001011 11110101110 11111011101 10 111110110111101 010 111111001 11101110101111 11101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,314 |
Words | 252 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 74 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 18, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 233 Views
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