Analysis of Greenhaven Cemetery
Joe Strickland 1986 (Hobbysville, SC)
what a morbid childhood.
I remember
walking throughout
the cemetery
that my daddy
worked at
trying
to become accustomed
with what
would be
my true future.
and thus,
I saw the dead
sought rest,
still as leaves
beneath fierce storms,
and I stood amongst
their fading stories,
unfolding
like the veins
of aged hands.
those tombstones,
rows upon rows,
in pebbled prose
of remembrance,
etched names
that whispered secrets
to the winds,
rustling through time's grip.
I longed
to become a part
of that eternal chorus,
echoes of sorrow,
celebration,
or sins confessed,
no judgement reserved
for the silent stones.
but life,
with its relentless grip,
claimed me
and kept me tethered
to its relentless cadence,
its cruel coil
of banal existence
and self-discovery.
there were no
tranquil graves for me,
no soft embrace
of mossy morning dew.
I walked,
not amongst
the peaceful dead,
but alongside
the broken
and the damned.
and here I am,
a wanderer
of wretchedness,
trying to become
accustomed with what
has been my true future,
as Hank
raucously sings
his truths in verse.
the graveyard
now within my veins,
a morbid childhood
etched upon my memory,
I write these words,
echoes of whispered regrets
and unfulfilled dreams
resonating within me.
Scheme | ABXCCXDXECB FGHXXIXDJX KLLMXXXN XXFOPHXK XNCXMXMC OCXXXIGXPX XBFXEBXXX XJACXXXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101 1010 1001 0100 1110 11 10 101010 11 11 1110 01 1101 11 111 0111 01101 11010 010 101 111 11 1011 011 1010 11 11010 101 10111 11 10101 1101010 10110 010 1101 11001 10101 11 110101 11 01110 1101010 1101 101010 010100 101 10111 1101 11101 11 101 0101 1011 010 001 0111 0100 11 10101 01011 111110 11 11 1101 01 10111 0101 1011100 1111 1011001 0011 100011 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 1,283 |
Words | 274 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 10, 8, 8, 8, 10, 9, 8 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 14 |
Words per line (avg) | 3 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 124 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
About this poem
This poem explores the speaker's childhood experiences in a cemetery and reflects upon their yearning to become a part of the peaceful and timeless world of the dead. The graveyard acts as a metaphor for the speaker's desire for a different, more profound existence that transcends mundane life. However, the grip of life, with its banality and constraints, keeps the speaker tethered to an existence filled with brokenness and damnation.
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"Greenhaven Cemetery" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/176246/greenhaven-cemetery>.
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