Analysis of Homage To Sextus Propertius - X
Ezra Pound 1885 (Hailey) – 1972 (Venice)
.Light, light of my eyes, at an exceeding late hour I was wandering,
And intoxicated,
and no servant was leading me,
And a minute crowd of small boys came from opposite,
I do not know what boys,
And I am afraid of numerical estimate,
And some of them shook little torches,
and others held onto arrows,
And the rest laid their chains upon me,
and they were naked, the lot of them,
And one of the lot was given to lust.
'That incensed female has consigned him to our pleasure.'
So spoke. And the noose was over my neck.
And another said 'Get him plumb in the middle!
'Shove along there, shove along!'
And another broke in upon this:
'He thinks that we are not gods,'
'And she has been waiting for the scoundrel,
and in a new Sidonian night cap,
And with more than Arabian odours,
God knows where he has been.
She could scarcely keep her eyes open
enter that much for his bail.
Get along now!'
We were coming near to the house,
and they gave another yank to my cloak,
And it was morning, and I wanted to see if she was alone and resting,
And Cynthia was alone in her bed.
I was stupefied.
I had never seen her looking so beautiful,
No, not when she was tunick'd in purple.
Such aspect was presented to me, me recently emerged from my visions,
You will observe that pure form has its value.
‘You are a very early inspector of mistresses.
‘Do you think I have adopted your habits?'
There were upon the bed no signs of a voluptuous encounter,
No signs of a second incumbent.
She continued:
'No incubus has crushed his body against me,
‘Though spirits are celebrated for adultery.
‘And I am going to the temple of Vesta . . .'
and so on.
Since that day I have had no pleasant nights.
Scheme | ABCDEDXXCXX FXGXXXGXEXXXX XXAXBGG XX XXFX XCCXX X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111101011011100 00100 01101101 0010111111100 111111 0110110100100 011111010 01011010 001111011 010100111 0110111011 111101111010 1100111011 001011110010 1011101 001010011 1111111 0111101010 0001111 011101001 111111 111010110 1011111 1011 10101101 0110101111 0111001101111101010 0100101001 111 111010101100 111111010 111010111100011110 11011111110 11010100101100 11111010110 10010111100100010 111010010 1010 1111110011 110110010100 011101010110 011 1111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,650 |
Words | 324 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 13, 7, 2, 4, 5, 1 |
Lines Amount | 43 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 184 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 131 Views
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