Analysis of After Long Drought

Mark Van Doren 1894 (Vermilion County) – 1972 (Torrington)



After long drought, commotion in the sky;
After dead silence, thunder. Then it comes,
The rain. It slashes leaves, and doubly drums
On tin and shingle; beats and bends awry
The flower heads; puddles dust, and with a sigh
Like love sinks into grasses, where it hums
As bees did once, among chrysanthemums
And asters when the summer thought to die.

The whole world dreamed of this, and has it now.
Nor was the waking easy. The dull root
Is jealous of its death; the sleepy brow
Smiles in its slumber; and a heart can fear
The very flood it longed for, roaring near.
The spirit best remembers being mute.


Scheme ABBAABBA CDCEED
Poetic Form
Metre 1011010001 1011010111 0111010101 1101010101 01011010101 1110110111 1111010100 0101010111 0111110111 1101010011 1101110101 1011000111 0101111101 0101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 609
Words 112
Sentences 8
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 236
Words per stanza (avg) 55
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
100

Mark Van Doren

Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. more…

All Mark Van Doren poems | Mark Van Doren Books

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