Analysis of The Rats
Georg Trakl 1887 (Salzburg) – 1914 (Kraków)
The hunter’s moon cuts straight through the farmyard.
From the roof’s edge a shadow descends.
The window empties itself without a word.
Up the stairs, below one’s breath, the rats cavort.
And the scuttling whistles here and there
and the grizzly whiff of your human stink
gives you away,
the ghost in the moonlight trembles through and through
and their bottomless greed tugs at you
and the houses and barns comply,
pregnant with corn and fruit.
In the dark out there the icy wind thrashes and weeps.
Translated by Eric Plattner
In Hof scheint weiß der herbstliche Mond.
Vom Dachrand fallen phantastische Schatten.
Ein Schweigen in leeren Fenstern wohnt;
Da tauchen leise herauf die Ratten
Und huschen pfeifend hier und dort
Und ein gräulicher Dunsthauch wittert
Ihnen nach aus dem Abort,
Den geisterhaft der Mondschein durchzittert
Und sie keifen vor Gier wie toll
Und erfüllen Haus und Scheunen,
Die von Korn und Früchten voll.
Eisige Winde im Dunkel greinen.
Scheme | AXXB XXXC CXXX X ADAD BABA XDXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (28%) |
Metre | 010111101 10110101 01010010101 10101110101 0010010101 0010111101 1101 010011101 011001111 00100101 101101 0011101011001 01011010 0111111 111011 110111 111111 1111011 111111 1011101 11111 1111111 111111 1111111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,050 |
Words | 166 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 105 Views
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