Analysis of The Church
Georg Trakl 1887 (Salzburg) – 1914 (Kraków)
Painted angels guard the altars;
And rest and shadows; beam from blue eyes.
In incense-fumes dirty lyes swim.
Figures stagger woebegone in the emptiness.
In the black kneeler a smallish whore
With faded cheeks resembles the Madonna.
In golden beams wax figures hang;
Moon and sun circle the white-bearded God.
A shine of soft columns and skeletons.
The sweet voices of boys died at the chancel.
Very quietly rapt colors move,
A flowing red from Magdalene's lips.
A pregnant woman goes astray in grave dreams
Through this twilight full of masks, flags.
Her shadow crosses the saints' still ways,
The angel's rest in lime-washed rooms.
Scheme | X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101010 01011111 00111011 10101000100 00110101 11010100010 01011101 1011001101 0111100100 0110111101 101001101 0101111 01010101011 1111111 01100111 0110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 626 |
Words | 107 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 32 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 7 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 32 sec read
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"The Church" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14776/the-church>.
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