Analysis of No Resurrection
Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)
Friendship, when a friend meant a helping sword,
Faithfulness, when power and life were its fruits, hatred, when the hated
Held steel at your throat or had killed your children, were more than metaphors.
Life and the world were as bright as knives.
But now, if I should recall my ruins
From the grass-roots and build my body again in the heavy grave,
Twist myself naked up through the earth like a strong white worm,
Tip the great stone, gulp the white air,
And live once more after long ages
In the change of the world: I should find the old human affections hollowed.
Should I need a friend? No one will really stab me from behind,
The people in the land of the living walk weaponless.
Should I hate an enemy? The evil-doers
Are pitiable now. Or to whom be faithful? Of whom seek faith?
Who has eaten of the victor's feast and shared the fugitive silence
Of beaten men on the mountain: suffer
Resurrection to join this midge-dance
Of gutted and multiplied echoes of life in the latter sun?
Dead man, be quiet. A fool of a merchant, who'd sell good earth
And grass again to make modern flesh.
Scheme | XXAX XXXX XXXA XXXX XXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010110101 111001011101010 11111111110011100 100101111 111111110 1011011100100101 1110110110111 10111011 011110110 001101111011001010 111011111011101 010001101011 111110001010 1100011111101111 11101010101010010 1101101010 01011111 110010101100101 111100110101111 010111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,082 |
Words | 203 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 43 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 172 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 86 Views
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"No Resurrection" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32825/no-resurrection>.
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