Analysis of But in the Wine-presses the Human Grapes Sing not nor Dance
William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)
But in the Wine-presses the human grapes sing not nor dance:
They howl and writhe in shoals of torment, in fierce flames consuming,
In chains of iron and in dungeons circled with ceaseless fires,
In pits and dens and shades of death, in shapes of torment and woe:
The plates and screws and racks and saws and cords and fires and cisterns
The cruel joys of Luvah's Daughters, lacerating with knives
And whips their victims, and the deadly sport of Luvah's Sons.
They dance around the dying and they drink the howl and groan,
They catch the shrieks in cups of gold, they hand them to one another:
These are the sports of love, and these the sweet delights of amorous play,
Tears of the grape, the death sweat of the cluster, the last sigh
Of the mild youth who listens to the luring songs of Luvah.----
Scheme | XXXXXXX XXXAA |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011001011111 11010111011010 0111000101011010 01010111011101 0101010101010010 01011110111 0111000101111 11010100110101 1101011111111010 11011101010111001 11010111010011 10111101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 836 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 5 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 53 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 315 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 74 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 132 Views
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"But in the Wine-presses the Human Grapes Sing not nor Dance" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39092/but-in-the-wine-presses-the-human-grapes-sing-not-nor-dance>.
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