Analysis of From Platform To Smoke
Neil McLeod 1947 (Oxford)
From Platform To Smoke
I stand 'tween the rails looking back at the gate
With lips pursed I swallow and choke,
And I thank God that I'm still standing alive
Not going from platform to smoke.
Not going from platform to smoke in a blink
Or just in an hour and a half,
“We really have got this machine running smoothly.”
The camp commandant would laugh.
The camp commandant would laugh in his house
Which was white and just behind the hedge.
He and his family could just see the chimneys
And smoke past their window ledge.
I can just see the ledge of the window
With our hands wrapped for Tifilin prayer,
An act of worship never allowed
To those who were previously there.
Those who were previously there came by train,
In a transport they came every day,
Crammed in goods vans that slowed to a halt,
Confused and afraid in dismay.
Confused and afraid and in dismay
The got down and formed sorting lines,
Those who went right were sentenced to death,
To the left for some other designs.
And the stench of the smoke was appalling
It wafted and hung in the air,
Indicting all who worked in that place
Of the wickedness that they all share.
I stand 'tween the rails looking back at the gate
With lips pursed I swallow and choke,
And I thank God that I'm still standing alive,
Not going from platform to smoke
Tifilin Prayer- Tefillin consists of two small leather boxes attached to leather straps. The two boxes each contain four sections of the Torah inscribed on parchment.
Scheme | a BACA xdxd xexe xfxf xgxg ghxh xfxf BACA x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 11101101101 11111001 01111111001 1101111 1101111001 110110001 110111011010 010111 010111011 111010101 101100111010 0111101 1111011010 11011111 111101001 111010001 11010001111 0001111001 101111101 01001001 010010001 01101101 111101011 101111001 0011011010 11001001 010111011 101001111 11101101101 11111001 01111111001 1101111 1110111110100111010110101110101001110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,441 |
Words | 270 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 117 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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"From Platform To Smoke" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/92404/%E2%80%8B%0Cfrom-platform-to-smoke>.
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