Analysis of The Teaching Of The Nude
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
A satyr spied a Goddess in her bath,
Unseen of her attendant nymphs; none knew.
Forthwith the creature to his fellows drew,
And looking backward on the curtained path,
He strove to tell; he could but heave a breast
Too full, and point to mouth, with failing leers:
Vainly he danced for speech, he giggled tears,
Made as if torn in two, as if tight pressed,
As if cast prone; then fetching whimpered tunes
For words, flung heel and set his hairy flight
Through forest-hollows, over rocky height.
The green leaves buried him three rounds of moons.
A senatorial Satyr named what herb
Had hurried him outrunning reason's curb.
'Tis told how when that hieaway unchecked
To dell returned, he seemed of tempered mood:
Even as the valley of the torrent rude,
The torrent now a brook, the valley wrecked.
In him, to hale him high or hurl aheap,
Goddess and Goatfoot hourly wrestled sore;
Hourly the immortal prevailing more:
Till one hot noon saw Meliboeus peep
From thicket-sprays to where his full-blown dame,
In circle by the lusty friskers gripped,
Laughed the showered rose-leaves while her limbs were stripped.
She beckoned to our Satyr, and he came.
Then twirled she mounds of ripeness, wreath of arms.
His hoof kicked up the clothing for such charms.
Scheme | ABBACDDCDEEDFF GHHGIJJIKLLKDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011010001 0110010111 1101011101 010101011 1111111101 1101111101 1011111101 1111011111 111111011 1111011101 1101010101 0111011111 001001111 110101011 11111101 1101111101 10101010101 0101010101 011111111 100110101 1000100101 1111111 1101111111 010101011 10101110101 1101101011 111111111 1111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,233 |
Words | 220 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 496 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 108 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 96 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Teaching Of The Nude" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15664/the-teaching-of-the-nude>.
Discuss this George Meredith poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In