Analysis of Fragments
In that fair capital where Pleasure, crowned
Amidst her myriad courtiers, riots and rules,
I too have been a suitor. Radiant eyes
Were my life's warmth and sunshine, outspread arms
My gilded deep horizons. I rejoiced
In yielding to all amorous influence
And multiple impulsion of the flesh,
To feel within my being surge and sway
The force that all the stars acknowledge too.
Amid the nebulous humanity
Where I an atom crawled and cleaved and sundered,
I saw a million motions, but one law;
And from the city's splendor to my eyes
The vapors passed and there was nought but Love,
A ferment turbulent, intensely fair,
Where Beauty beckoned and where Strength pursued.
There was a time when I thought much of Fame,
And laid the golden edifice to be
That in the clear light of eternity
Should fitly house the glory of my name.
But swifter than my fingers pushed their plan,
Over the fair foundation scarce begun,
While I with lovers dallied in the sun,
The ivy clambered and the rose-vine ran.
And now, too late to see my vision, rise,
In place of golden pinnacles and towers,
Only some sunny mounds of leaves and flowers,
Only beloved of birds and butterflies.
My friends were duped, my favorers deceived;
But sometimes, musing sorrowfully there,
That flowered wreck has seemed to me so fair
I scarce regret the temple unachieved.
For there were nights . . . my love to him whose brow
Has glistened with the spoils of nights like those,
Home turning as a conqueror turns home,
What time green dawn down every street uprears
Arches of triumph! He has drained as well
Joy's perfumed bowl and cried as I have cried:
Be Fame their mistress whom Love passes by.
This only matters: from some flowery bed,
Laden with sweetness like a homing bee,
If one have known what bliss it is to come,
Bearing on hands and breast and laughing lips
The fragrance of his youth's dear rose. To him
The hills have bared their treasure, the far clouds
Unveiled the vision that o'er summer seas
Drew on his thirsting arms. This last thing known,
He can court danger, laugh at perilous odds,
And, pillowed on a memory so sweet,
Unto oblivious eternity
Without regret yield his victorious soul,
The blessed pilgrim of a vow fulfilled.
What is Success? Out of the endless ore
Of deep desire to coin the utmost gold
Of passionate memory; to have lived so well
That the fifth moon, when it swims up once more
Through orchard boughs where mating orioles build
And apple flowers unfold,
Find not of that dear need that all things tell
The heart unburdened nor the arms unfilled.
O Love, whereof my boyhood was the dream,
My youth the beautiful novitiate,
Life was so slight a thing and thou so great,
How could I make thee less than all-supreme!
In thy sweet transports not alone I thought
Mingled the twain that panted breast to breast.
The sun and stars throbbed with them; they were caught
Into the pulse of Nature and possessed
By the same light that consecrates it so.
Love! -- 'tis the payment of the debt we owe
The beauty of the world, and whensoe'er
In silks and perfume and unloosened hair
The loveliness of lovers, face to face,
Lies folded in the adorable embrace,
Doubt not as of a perfect sacrifice
That soul partakes whose inspiration fills
The springtime and the depth of summer skies,
The rainbow and the clouds behind the hills,
That excellence in earth and air and sea
That makes things as they are the real divinity.
Scheme | ABCXXXXXXDAXCXEX FDDF GHHG CIIC XEEA XXXBJXXXDXXXXXXXXDXK LMJLKMJK NAXNXOXOPPEEQQXRCRDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 0111001101 0101001001001 11110101001 01110111 1101010101 01011100100 01001101 1101110101 0111010101 0101000100 1111010101 1101010111 0101010111 0101011111 0011000101 1101001101 1101111111 0101010011 1001110100 111010111 1101110111 1001010101 1111010001 0101000111 0111111101 011101010 10110111010 100111010 11011101 1011011 1101111111 11010101 1101111111 1101011111 1101010011 1111110011 1011011111 1011011111 1111011101 11010111001 1011010101 1111111111 1011010101 0101111111 0111110011 01010110101 111111111 11110111001 011010011 1001000100 01011101001 011010101 1101110101 1101011011 110010011111 1011111111 1101110101 0101001 1111111111 0101010101 11111101 1101001 1111010111 1111111101 0110110111 1001110111 0101111101 0101110001 10111111 1101010111 01010101 01001011 01110111 11000010001 111100110 11110101 010011101 010010101 1100010101 111111010100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 3,420 |
Words | 610 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 4, 4, 4, 4, 20, 8, 20 |
Lines Amount | 80 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 339 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 76 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:04 min read
- 47 Views
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"Fragments" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/299/fragments>.
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