Analysis of Extreme Unction



Upon the eyes, the lips, the feet,
On all the passages of sense,
The atoning oil is spread with sweet
Renewal of lost innocence.

The feet, that lately ran so fast
To meet desire, are soothly sealed;
The eyes, that were so often cast
On vanity, are touched and healed.

From troublous sights and sounds set free;
In such a twilight hour of breath,
Shall one retrace his life, or see,
Through shadows, the true face of death?

Vials of mercy! Sacring oils!
I know not where nor when I come,
Nor through what wanderings and toils,
To crave of you Viaticum.

Yet, when the walls of flesh grow weak,
In such an hour, it well may be,
Through mist and darkness, light will break,
And each anointed sense will see.


Scheme AXAX BCBC DEDE FGFG XDXD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 01010101 11010011 0111111 01011100 01110111 11010111 01101101 11001101 1110111 01011011 11011111 1101111 1011011 11111111 11110001 11111 11011111 011101111 11010111 01010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 692
Words 133
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 109
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
154

Ernest Christopher Dowson

Ernest Christopher Dowson was born in 1867 at Lea in Kent England he was an English poet novelist and writer of short stories associated with the Decadent movement Most of his life was spent in France more…

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