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
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

31 sec read
74

Vachel Lindsay

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. more…

All Vachel Lindsay poems | Vachel Lindsay Books

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