Analysis of The Giant Cactus Of Arizona
Harriet Monroe 1860 (Chicago) – 1936 (Arequipa)
The cactus in the desert stands
Like time's inviolate sentinel,
Watching the sun-washed waste of sands
Lest they their ancient secrets tell.
And the lost lore of mournful lands
It knows alone and guards too well.
Wiser than Sphynx or pyramid,
It points a stark hand at the sky,
And all the stars alight or hid
It counts as they go rolling by;
And mysteries the gods forbid
Darken its heavy memory.
I asked how old the world was—yea,
And why yon ruddy mountain grew
Out of hell's fire. By night nor day
It answered not, though all it knew,
But lifted, as it stopped my way,
Its wrinkled fingers toward the blue.
Inscrutable and stern and still
It waits the everlasting doom.
Races and years may do their will—
Lo, it will rise above their tomb,
Till the drugged earth has drunk her fill
Of light, and falls asleep in gloom.
Scheme | AXABAB CDCDCX EFEFEF GHGHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01000101 110100100 10011111 11110101 00111101 11010111 10111100 11011101 01010111 11111101 01000101 10110100 11110111 01110101 111101111 11011111 11011111 110100101 01000101 1100101 10011111 11110111 10111101 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 830 |
Words | 154 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 162 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 45 Views
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