Analysis of Bat
David Herbert Lawrence 1885 (Eastwood, Nottinghamshire) – 1930 (Vence)
At evening, sitting on this terrace,
When the sun from the west, beyond Pisa, beyond the mountains of Carrara
Departs, and the world is taken by surprise ...
When the tired flower of Florence is in gloom beneath the glowing
Brown hills surrounding ...
When under the arches of the Ponte Vecchio
A green light enters against stream, flush from the west,
Against the current of obscure Arno ...
Look up, and you see things flying
Between the day and the night;
Swallows with spools of dark thread sewing the shadows together.
A circle swoop, and a quick parabola under the bridge arches
Where light pushes through;
A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air.
A dip to the water.
And you think:
'The swallows are flying so late!'
Dark air-life looping
Yet missing the pure loop ...
A twitch, a twitter, an elastic shudder in flight
And serrated wings against the sky,
Like a glove, a black glove thrown up at the light,
And falling back.
Never swallows!
Bats!
The swallows are gone.
At a wavering instant the swallows gave way to bats
By the Ponte Vecchio ...
Changing guard.
Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp
As the bats swoop overhead!
Flying madly.
Pipistrello!
Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe.
Little lumps that fly in air and have voices indefinite, wildly vindictive;
Wings like bits of umbrella.
Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep;
And disgustingly upside down.
Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old rags
And grinning in their sleep.
Bats!
Not for me!
Scheme | xax bb cxc bde xxxe xx bxdxdx xFx fcx xxg gxx a hx xhF g |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101110 101101011001010110 01001110101 10101011010101010 11010 110010101100 011100111101 0101010110 11011110 0101001 10111111001010 01010010100100110 11101 010100101101001 011010 011 01011011 11110 110011 0101010101001 01010101 10101111101 0101 1010 1 01011 10100100101111 101100 101 10101010011 1011101 1010 1 11011001001 10111010110010010010 1111010 1011011111111 01111 1011111101011 010011 1 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,537 |
Words | 266 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 2, 6, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 79 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 363 Views
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"Bat" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7813/bat>.
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