Analysis of Self-Portrait
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
The steadfastness of generations of nobility
shows in the curving lines that form the eyebrows.
And the blue eyes still show traces of childhood fears
and of humility here and there, not of a servant's,
yet of one who serves obediantly, and of a woman.
The mouth formed as a mouth, large and accurate,
not given to long phrases, but to express
persuasively what is right. The forehead without guile
and favoring the shadows of quiet downward gazing.
This, as a coherent whole, only casually observed;
never as yet tried in suffering or succeeding,
held together for an enduring fulfillment,
yet so as if for times to come, out of these scattered things,
something serious and lasting were being planned.
Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming
Scheme | XAXAXXXXB XBXXX B |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010101010100 1001011101 00111110111 0101001011101 11111101010 01110110100 11011101101 0100111010011 0100011101010 110010110100001 1011101001010 101011010010 11111111111101 101000100101 0101101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 734 |
Words | 127 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 5, 1 |
Lines Amount | 15 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 199 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 336 Views
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"Self-Portrait" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29707/self-portrait>.
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