Analysis of The Fish
Marianne Moore 1887 (Kirkwood) – 1972 (New York City)
wade
through black jade
Of the crow-blue mussel-shells, one keeps
adjusting the ash heaps;
opening and shutting itself like
an
injured fan.
The barnacles which encrust the side
of the wave, cannot hide
there for the submerged shafts of the
sun,
split like spun
glass, move themselves with spotlight swiftness
into the crevices–
in and out, illuminating
the
turquoise sea
of bodies. The water drives a wedge
of iron through the iron edge
of the cliff; whereupon the stars,
pink
rice-grains, ink-
bespattered jelly-fish, crabs like green
lilies, and submarine
toadstools, slide each on the other.
All
external
marks of abuse are present on this
defiant edifice–
all the physical features of
ac-
cident–lack
of cornice, dynamite grooves, burns, and
hatchet strokes, these things stand
out on it; the chasm-side is
dead.
Repeated
evidence has proved that it can live
on what can not revive
its youth. The sea grows old in it.
Scheme | AABBCDDEEFGGHIJFKLLMNNOOPQRSHTKUVWIXYZZ1 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (50%) Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 1 111 101110111 010011 100010011 1 101 010010101 101101 11001110 1 111 11011110 010100 0010100 0 101 110010101 11010101 10110101 1 111 1101111 10010 1111010 1 010 110111011 010100 10100101 11 11 1110110 101111 11101011 1 010 100111111 111101 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 900 |
Words | 155 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 736 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 153 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 167 Views
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