Analysis of O Germany, Pale Mother!
Bertolt Brecht 1898 (Augsburg) – 1956 (East Berlin)
Let others speak of her shame,
I speak of my own.
O Germany, pale mother!
How soiled you are
As you sit among the peoples.
You flaunt yourself
Among the besmirched.
The poorest of your sons
Lies struck down.
When his hunger was great.
Your other sons
Raised their hands against him.
This is notorious.
With their hands thus raised,
Raised against their brother,
They march insolently around you
And laugh in your face.
This is well known.
In your house
Lies are roared aloud.
But the truth
Must be silent.
Is it so?
Why do the oppressors praise you everywhere,
The oppressed accuse you?
The plundered
Point to you with their fingers, but
The plunderer praises the system
That was invented in your house!
Whereupon everyone sees you
Hiding the hem of your mantle which is bloody
With the blood
Of your best sons.
Hearing the harangues which echo from your house,
men laugh.
But whoever sees you reaches for a knife
As at the approach of a robber.
O Germany, pale mother!
How have your sons arrayed you
That you sit among the peoples
A thing of scorn and fear!
Scheme | xa Bxcxd exdexx dbfxa gdxdx xfddxg fdde gxxb Bfcx |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101101 11111 1100110 1111 11101010 1101 0101 010111 111 111011 1101 111011 110100 11111 101110 111011 01011 1111 011 11101 101 1110 111 1100101110 001011 010 11111101 0110010 11010011 1011011 100111101110 101 1111 10001110111 11 10101110101 110011010 1100110 1111011 11101010 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,066 |
Words | 194 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 5, 6, 5, 5, 6, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 93 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 111 Views
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