Analysis of Salutation The Second
Ezra Pound 1885 (Hailey) – 1972 (Venice)
You were praised, my books,
because I had just come from the country;
I was twenty years behind the times
so you found an audience ready.
I do not disown you,
do not you disown your progeny.
Here they stand without quaint devices,
Here they are with nothing archaic about them.
Observe the irritation in general:
‘Is this’ they say, 'the nonsense
that we expect of poets?’
'Where is the Picturesque ?'
‘Where is the vertigo of emotion?'
‘No! his first work was the best.’
'Poor Dear! he has lost his illusions.’
Go, little naked and impudent songs,
Go with a light foot!
(Or with two light feet, if it please you!)
Go and dance shamelessly!
Go with an impertinent frolic!
Greet the grave and the stodgy,
Salute them with your thumbs at your noses.
Here are your bells and confetti.
Go! rejuvenate things!
Rejuvenate even 'The Spectator.’
Go! and make cat calls!
Dance and make people blush,
Dance the dance of the phallus
and tell anecdotes of Cybele!
Speak of the indecorous conduct of the Gods!
(Tell it to Mr. Strachey)
Ruffle the skirts of prudes,
speak of their knees and ankles.
But, above all, go to practical people
go! jangle their door-bells!
Say that you do no work
and that you will live forever.
Scheme | ABXBCB XXD XXXXXX XXCBX BX BXEXFADXF AXDXXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111 0111111010 111010101 111110010 111011 111011100 111011010 111110010011 0100100100 1111010 1101110 110100 110101010 1111101 111111010 11010011 11011 111111111 101100 111010010 1010010 0111111110 11110010 10101 010100100 10111 101101 101101 011011 110101101 111101 100111 1111010 10111110010 110111 111111 01111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,196 |
Words | 224 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 3, 6, 5, 2, 9, 6 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 320 Views
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