Analysis of Water Lily
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
My whole life is mine, but whoever says so
will deprive me, for it is infinite.
The ripple of water, the shade of the sky
are mine; it is still the same, my life.
No desire opens me: I am full,
I never close myself with refusal-
in the rythm of my daily soul
I do not desire-I am moved;
by being moved I exert my empire,
making the dreams of night real:
into my body at the bottom of the water
I attract the beyonds of mirrors...
Translated by A. Poulin
| Scheme | XXXX XXXX AXAX X |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 11111101011 1011111100 01011001101 111110111 1010101111 110111010 00111101 111010111 11011011100 1001111 0111010101010 10101110 0101001 |
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 449 |
| Words | 94 |
| Sentences | 5 |
| Stanzas | 4 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 1 |
| Lines Amount | 13 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 86 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 28 sec read
- 740 Views
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"Water Lily" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29747/water-lily>.
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