Analysis of Antagonists

Arthur Henry Adams 1872 (Lawrence) – 1936 (Sydney, New South Wales)



WHAT though the neutral sea sever us twain?
 In the still night your soul in mine I take;
 Your eyes, hilarious with passion, wake,
 And love's delirium is mine again,
 When all your body's warmth swirled in my brain—
 Your face uplifted like a pallid lake
 Where in my eager lips their thirst could slake,
 With deep-sighed, langourous kisses, keener than pain.  
  Then suddenly through passion's rosy mists
 A shudder trickled, like a stream of blood:
 In a grim pause we felt and understood.
 The everlasting war that was our fate—
 The pitiless struggle and primeval hate
 Of old implacable antagonists.


Scheme ABBCABBADEFGGH
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011011 0011110111 1101001101 0101001101 1111011011 1110010101 1011011111 1111101011 110011101 0101010111 001111001 0010111101 01001000101 1101000100
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 619
Words 103
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 472
Words per stanza (avg) 101
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
58

Arthur Henry Adams

Arthur Henry Adams was a journalist and author. He started his career in New Zealand, though he spent most of it in Australia, and for a short time lived in China and London.  more…

All Arthur Henry Adams poems | Arthur Henry Adams Books

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