Analysis of Anniversaries
Aldous Leonard Huxley 1894 (Aldous Leonard Huxley Godalming, Surrey) – 1963 (Los Angeles County, California)
Once more the windless days are here,
Quiet of autumn, when the year
Halts and looks backward and draws breath
Before it plunges into death.
Silver of mist and gossamers,
Through-shine of noonday's glassy gold,
Pale blue of skies, where nothing stirs
Save one blanched leaf, weary and old,
That over and over slowly falls
From the mute elm-trees, hanging on air
Like tattered flags along the walls
Of chapels deep in sunlit prayer.
Once more ... Within its flawless glass
To-day reflects that other day,
When, under the bracken, on the grass,
We who were lovers happily lay
And hardly spoke, or framed a thought
That was not one with the calm hills
And crystal sky. Ourselves were nought,
Our gusty passions, our burning wills
Dissolved in boundlessness, and we
Were almost bodiless, almost free.
The wind has shattered silver and gold.
Night after night of sparkling cold,
Orion lifts his tangled feet
From where the tossing branches beat
In a fine surf against the sky.
So the trance ended, and we grew
Restless, we knew not how or why;
And there were sudden gusts that blew
Our dreaming banners into storm;
We wore the uncertain crumbling form
Of a brown swirl of windy leaves,
A phantom shape that stirs and heaves
Shuddering from earth, to fall again
With a dry whisper of withered rain.
Last, from the dead and shrunken days
We conjured spring, lighting the blaze
Of burnished tulips in the dark;
And from black frost we struck a spark
Of blue delight and fragrance new,
A little world of flowers and dew.
Winter for us was over and done:
The drought of fluttering leaves had grown
Emerald shining in the sun,
As light as glass, as firm as stone.
Real once more: for we had passed
Through passion into thought again;
Shaped our desires and made that fast
Which was before a cloudy pain;
Moulded the dimness, fixed, defined
In a fair statue, strong and free,
Twin bodies flaming into mind,
Poised on the brink of ecstasy.
Scheme | XXAABCBCBDBDBEBEXBCBFF CCGGHIHIJJBBKL BBMMIINONOPKPLQFQB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111 10110101 10110011 01110011 101101 1111101 11111101 11111001 110010101 101111011 11010101 111011 11011101 11011101 110010101 110101001 01011101 11111011 010100101 10101010101 010101 01111 011101001 11011101 01011101 11010101 00110101 10110011 10111111 01010111 101010011 1100101001 10111101 01011101 100111101 101101101 11010101 11011001 11010001 01111101 11010101 010111001 101111001 011100111 1010001 11111111 1111111 11001101 1100100111 11010101 101101 0011101 11010011 11011100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,879 |
Words | 342 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 22, 14, 18 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 510 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 114 |
Font size:
Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 20, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 8 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Anniversaries" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54653/anniversaries>.
Discuss this Aldous Leonard Huxley 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