Analysis of Inland
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
People that build their houses inland,
People that buy a plot of ground
Shaped like a house, and build a house there,
Far from the sea-board, far from the sound
Of water sucking the hollow ledges,
Tons of water striking the shore,—
What do they long for, as I long for
One salt smell of the sea once more?
People the waves have not awakened,
Spanking the boats at the harbour's head,
What do they long for, as I long for,—
Starting up in my inland bed,
Beating the narrow walls, and finding
Neither a window nor a door,
Screaming to God for death by drowning,—
One salt taste of the sea once more?
| Scheme | xaxa xbBb xcBc dbdb |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
| Metre | 10111101 10110111 110101011 110111101 1101001010 11101001 111111111 11110111 100111010 10011011 111111111 1010111 100101010 10010101 101111110 11110111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 596 |
| Words | 119 |
| Sentences | 3 |
| Stanzas | 4 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 16 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 116 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
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"Inland" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9386/inland>.
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