Analysis of December Sonnet

Georg Trakl 1887 (Salzburg) – 1914 (Kraków)



At evening jugglers travel through the forest

On quaint wagons, small steeds.

A golden stash seems locked in clouds.

In the dark plain villages are painted.

The red wind billows linen black and cold.

A dog rots, a shrub smokes blood-doused.

The reed is flown through by yellow horror

And placidly a funeral procession pilgrimages to the cemetery.

The old man's hut dwindles nearby in the gray,

In the pond a brilliance of old treasures glistens;

The farmers sit down in the tavern for wine.

A boy glides shyly to a woman.

A monk fades in the darkness soft and dark.

A bleak tree is a sleeper's sexton.


Scheme X A X X X X X X X A X B X B
Poetic Form
Metre 110100101010 111011 01011101 0011100110 0111010101 01101111 0111111010 01000100010100010100 01111011001 00101011101 01011001011 011101010 0110010101 01110110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 596
Words 110
Sentences 11
Stanzas 14
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 34
Words per stanza (avg) 8
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
75

Georg Trakl

Georg Trakl was an Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. more…

All Georg Trakl poems | Georg Trakl Books

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