Analysis of Broadway
Lola Ridge 1873 – 1941
Light!
Innumerable ions of light,
Kindling, irradiating,
All to their foci tending…
Light that jingles like anklet chains
On bevies of little lithe twinkling feet,
Or clingles in myriad vibrations
Like trillions of porcelain
Vases shattering…
Light over the laminae of roofs,
Diffusing in shimmering nebulae
About the night's boundaries,
Or billowing in pearly foam
Submerging the low-lying stars…
Light for the feast prolonged -
Captive light in the goblets quivering…
Sparks evanescent
Struck of meeting looks -
Fringed eyelids leashing
Sheathed and leaping lights…
Infinite bubbles of light
Bursting, reforming…
Silvery filings of light
Incessantly falling…
Scintillant, sided dust of light
Out of the white flares of Broadway -
Like a great spurious diamond
In the night's corsage faceted…
Broadway,
In ambuscades of light,
Drawing the charmed multitudes
With the slow suction of her breath -
Dangling her naked soul
Behind the blinding gold of eunuch lights
That wind about her like a bodyguard.
Or like a huge serpent, iridescent-scaled,
Trailing her coruscating length
Over the night prostrate -
Triumphant poised,
Her hydra heads above the avenues,
Values appraising
And her avid eyes
Glistening with eternal watchfulness…
Broadway -
Out of her towers rampant,
Like an unsubtle courtezan
Reserving nought for some adventurous night.
Scheme | aabb cxxdb xexxx xbfxbgababahxx Haxxegx xxxxxbxc Hfda |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 010001011 101 111110 11101101 1111011001 110100010 1101100 10100 1100111 01001001 0101100 11000101 101101 110101 101001100 1010 11101 111 10101 1001011 10010 1001011 010010 110111 1101111 10110010 00101100 1 0111 100110 10110101 1000101 0101011101 110101010 1101100101 10011 100110 0101 010101010 10010 00101 10010101 1 1101010 110101 01011101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,326 |
Words | 207 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 5, 5, 14, 7, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 157 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 123 Views
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"Broadway" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25886/broadway>.
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