Analysis of What The Hyena Said
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
The moon is but a golden skull,
She mounts the heavens now,
And Moon-Worms, mighty Moon-Worms
Are wreathed around her brow.
The Moon-Worms are a doughty race:
They eat her gray and golden face.
Her eye-sockets dead, and molding head:
These caverns are their dwelling-place.
The Moon-Worms, serpents of the skies,
From the great hollows of her eyes
Behold all souls, and they are wise:
With tiny, keen and icy eyes,
Behold how each man sins and dies.
When Earth in gold-corruption lies
Long dead, the moon-worm butterflies
On cyclone wings will reach this place—
Yea, rear their brood on earth’s dead face.
Scheme | XAXA BBXB CCCCC CCBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110101 110101 0111011 110101 01110101 11010101 011010101 11011101 01110101 10110101 01110111 11010101 01111101 11010101 1101110 10111111 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 601 |
Words | 105 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 5, 4 |
Lines Amount | 17 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 119 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 74 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"What The Hyena Said" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37434/what-the-hyena-said>.
Discuss this Vachel Lindsay poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In