Analysis of Music
Stephen Vincent Benet 1898 (Bethlehem) – 1943 (New York City)
My friend went to the piano; spun the stool
A little higher; left his pipe to cool;
Picked up a fat green volume from the chest;
And propped it open.
Whitely without rest,
His fingers swept the keys that flashed like swords,
. . . And to the brute drums of barbarian hordes,
Roaring and thunderous and weapon-bare,
An army stormed the bastions of the air!
Dreadful with banners, fire to slay and parch,
Marching together as the lightnings march,
And swift as storm-clouds. Brazen helms and cars
Clanged to a fierce resurgence of old wars
Above the screaming horns. In state they passed,
Trampling and splendid on and sought the vast --
Rending the darkness like a leaping knife,
The flame, the noble pageant of our life!
The burning seal that stamps man's high indenture
To vain attempt and most forlorn adventure;
Romance, and purple seas, and toppling towns,
And the wind's valiance crying o'er the downs;
That nerves the silly hand, the feeble brain,
From the loose net of words to deeds again
And to all courage! Perilous and sharp
The last chord shook me as wind shakes a harp!
. . . And my friend swung round on his stool, and from gods we were men,
"How pretty!" we said; and went on with our talk again.
Scheme | AABCBDDEEFFGHIIJJKKLLMNOONN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110010101 0101011111 1101110101 01110 10011 1101011111 01011101001 1001000101 1101010101 10110101101 1001010101 0111110101 1101010111 0101010111 1001010101 1001010101 01010101101 01011111010 11010101010 01010101001 0011101001 1101010101 1011111101 0111010001 0111111101 01111111011101 11011011110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,219 |
Words | 217 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 27 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 944 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 220 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 116 Views
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"Music" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35802/music>.
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