Analysis of Before
William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)
Behold me waiting-waiting for the knife.
A little while, and at a leap I storm
The thick, sweet mystery of chloroform,
The drunken dark, the little death-in-life.
The gods are good to me: I have no wife,
No innocent child, to think of as I near
The fateful minute; nothing all-too dear
Unmans me for my bout of passive strife.
Yet am I tremulous and a trifle sick,
And, face to face with chance, I shrink a little:
My hopes are strong, my will is something weak.
Here comes the basket? Thank you. I am ready.
But, gentlemen my porters, life is brittle:
You carry Caesar and his fortunes-steady!
Scheme | ABBAACCADEFGEG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111010101 0101010111 011100110 0101010101 0111111111 11001111111 0101010111 111111101 11110000101 01111111010 1111111101 11010111110 11001101110 11010011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 589 |
Words | 111 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 457 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 49 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Before" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40450/before>.
Discuss this William Ernest Henley 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