Analysis of Vain Death
Archibald Thomas Strong 1876 – 1930
ALL the first night she might not weep
But watched till morning came,
And when she slept at dawn, she heard
The dead man call her name.
The second night she watched and wept
And called on death for grace,
And when she slept before the dawn
She saw the dead man’s face.
The third night through she laughed as one
That knows her way to bliss,
And in the instant ere she slept
She felt the dead man’s kiss.
She rose and faced the flickering fire
(And oh, but she was fair!),
Like a wild witch behind her danced
The shadow of her hair.
She took her penknife from its sheath,
The tender blade she kissed,
And by the firelight’s dying leap
She bared her little wrist.
And where the vein ran large and blue
She cut, once and again,
Yet ere she swooned from life, she knew
Her death had been in vain.
For while life thundered in her ears,
Ere yet her pulse might fail,
Far off across the kindless night
She heard the dead man’s wail,
And knew her doom was one with theirs
That kill the life God gave,
And that she might not leave this earth
Her soul alive to save,
But ay must dwell within that house
As in a living grave,
While he for whom she died might ne’er
Win to her in that place,
But must for ever make his moan
Ranging in agony alone
The trackless void of space
Scheme | ABXB CDXD XECE XFXF XGAG HXHX XIXI XJXJXJ XDKKD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111111 111101 01111111 011101 01011101 011111 01110101 110111 01111111 110111 00010111 110111 1101010010 011111 10110101 01101 1101111 010111 0101101 110101 01011101 111001 11111111 011101 11110001 110111 1101011 110111 01011111 110111 01111111 010111 11110111 100101 11111111 110011 11110111 10010001 01111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,447 |
Words | 252 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 5 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 152 Views
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"Vain Death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3787/vain-death>.
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