Analysis of The Unicorn
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
The saintly hermit, midway through his prayers
stopped suddenly, and raised his eyes to witness
the unbelievable: for there before him stood
the legendary creature, startling white, that
had approached, soundlessly, pleading with his eyes.
The legs, so delicately shaped, balanced a
body wrought of finest ivory. And as
he moved, his coat shone like reflected moonlight.
High on his forehead rose the magic horn, the sign
of his uniqueness: a tower held upright
by his alert, yet gentle, timid gait.
The mouth of softest tints of rose and grey, when
opened slightly, revealed his gleaming teeth,
whiter than snow. The nostrils quivered faintly:
he sought to quench his thirst, to rest and find repose.
His eyes looked far beyond the saint's enclosure,
reflecting vistas and events long vanished,
and closed the circle of this ancient mystic legend.
Scheme | XXXXX XXAXAX XXXXXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010101111 11000111110 00100110111 0100101011 101110111 01110001100 10111010001 1111110101 111101010101 11010010101 1101110101 01110111011 1010011101 1011010110 111111110101 11110101010 01010001110 0101011101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 840 |
Words | 140 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 6, 7 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 227 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 269 Views
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