Analysis of Clouds and Waves
Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)
Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds call out to me-
"We play from the time we wake till the day ends.
We play with the golden dawn, we play with the silver moon."
I ask, "But how am I to get up to you ?"
They answer, "Come to the edge of the earth, lift up your
hands to the sky, and you will be taken up into the clouds."
"My mother is waiting for me at home, "I say, "How can I leave
her and come?"
Then they smile and float away.
But I know a nicer game than that, mother.
I shall be the cloud and you the moon.
I shall cover you with both my hands, and our house-top will
be the blue sky.
The folk who live in the waves call out to me-
"We sing from morning till night; on and on we travel and know
not where we pass."
I ask, "But how am I to join you?"
They tell me, "Come to the edge of the shore and stand with
your eyes tight shut, and you will be carried out upon the waves."
I say, "My mother always wants me at home in the everything-
how can I leave her and go?"
They smile, dance and pass by.
But I know a better game than that.
I will be the waves and you will be a strange shore.
I shall roll on and on and on, and break upon your lap with
laughter.
And no one in the world will know where we both are.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJCKLAMNDOPQMLREOJS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011110011111 11101111011 11101011110101 11111111111 1101101101111 110101111010101 1101101111111111 001 1110101 11101011110 111010101 111011111010111 1011 01110011111 111101110111001 1111 111111111 1111101101011 111101111010101 11110111110010 1111001 111011 111010111 111010111011 111101010101111 10 011001111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,282 |
Words | 274 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 27 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 903 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 265 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 07, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 128 Views
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"Clouds and Waves" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29427/clouds-and-waves>.
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