Analysis of Words
Is it not brave to be a king, Techelles,--
Usumcasane and Theridamas,
Is it not passing brave to be a king,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis? --MARLOWE
Bring the great words that scourge the thundering line
With lust and slaughter-words that reek of doom
And the lost battle and the ruined shrine;--
Words dire and black as midnight on a tomb;
Hushed speech of waters on the lip of gloom;
Huge sounds of death and plunder in the night;--
Words whose vast plumes above the ages meet,
Girdling the lost, dark centuries in their flight,
The slave of their unfetterable feet.
Bring words as pure as rills of earliest Spring
In some far cranny of the hillside born
To stitch against the earth's green habiting;--
Words lonely as the long, blue fields of morn;--
Words on the wistful lyre of winds forlorn
To the sad ear of grief from distance blown;
Thin bleat of fawn and airy babble of birds;
Sounds of bright water slipping on the stone
Where the thrilled fountain pipes to woodland words.
Bring passionate words from noontide's slumber roused,
To slake the amorous lips of love with fruit,
Dripping with honey, and with syrups drowsed
To draw bee-murmurs from the dreaming lute-
Words gold and mad and headlong in pursuit
Of laughter; words that are too sweet to say
And fade, unsaid, upon some rose's mouth;--
Words soft as winds that ever blow one way,
The summer way, the long way from the south.
For such words have high lineage, and were known
Of Milton once, whose heart on theirs still beats;
Marlowe hurled forth huge stars to make them crown;
They are stained still with the dying lips of Keats;
As queen they trod the cloak in Shakespeare's streets;
Pale hands of Shelley gently guard their flame;
Chatterton's heart was burst upon their spears:
Their dynasty unbroken, and their name
Music in men's mouths for all men's ears.
But now they are lost, their lordliest 'scutcheon stained;
Upon their ruined walls no trumpet rings;
Their shrines defiled, their sacraments profaned:
Men crown the crow, they have given the jackal wings.
Slaves wear the peplum, beggars ride as kings.
They couple foolish words and look for birth
Of mighty emperor, Christ or Avatar,
They mate with slaves from whom no king comes forth;
No child is theirs who follow not the Star.
Scheme | AABX CDCDDEFEF BGBGGHAHA XIEIIAJXJ HAXAAKAKA XAEAAXLXL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111011 101 1111011101 01010101001 10111101001 1101011111 0011000101 110111101 1111010111 1111010001 1111010101 1011100011 011111 11111111001 011101011 11010111 1101011111 1101011101 1011111101 11110101011 1111010101 101101111 1100111101 11010011111 1011001101 1111010101 110101001 1101111111 0101011101 1111110111 0101011101 11111100001 1101111111 111111111 11111010111 111101011 1111010111 1001110111 1100010011 100111111 111111111 0111011101 11111001 110111100101 110110111 1101010111 1101001110 1111111111 1111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,235 |
Words | 405 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 300 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 66 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 2:03 min read
- 43 Views
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"Words" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28380/words>.
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