Analysis of The Castle
Edwin Muir 1887 (Orkney) – 1959 (Cambridge)
All through that summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
And the enemy half a mile away
They seemed no threat to us at all.
For what, we thought, had we to fear
With our arms and provender, load on load,
Our towering battlements, tier on tier,
And friendly allies drawing near
On every leafy summer road.
Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win
A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us, have us dead or quick.
Only a bird could have got in.
What could they offer us for bait?
Our captain was brave and we were true....
There was a little private gate,
A little wicked wicket gate.
The wizened warder let them through.
Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The cause was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
And all its secret galleries bare.
How can this shameful tale be told?
I will maintain until my death
We could do nothing, being sold;
Our only enemy was gold,
And we had no arms to fight it with.
Scheme | ABAAB CDXCD EFEEF GHGGH IJIIJ KXKKX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (27%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111101111 01010101 11010001 0010010101 11111111 11111111 110101111 10100100111 01010101 110010101 1010110101 11011111 0111101 11111111 10011110 11110111 1010110101 11010101 01010101 01010111 11101111 11010011 01110101 0101001 011101001 11110111 11010111 11110101 101010011 011111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,030 |
Words | 202 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 136 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 1:00 min read
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