Analysis of In Secret We Thirst

Hermann Hesse 1877 (Calw) – 1962 (Montagnola)



Graceful, spiritual,
with the gentleness of arabesques
our life is similar
to the existence of fairies
that spin in soft cadence
around nothingness
to which we sacrifice
the here and now

Dreams of beauty, youthful joy
like a breath in pure harmony
with the depth of your young surface
where sparkles the longing for the night
for blood and barbarity

In the emptiness, spinning, without aims or needs
dance free our lives
always ready for the game
yet, secretly, we thirst for reality
for the conceiving, for the birth
we are thirst for sorrows and death


Scheme XAXAAAAX XBAXB AAXBXX
Poetic Form
Metre 101000 1010011 1011100 10010110 110110 01100 11110 0101 1110101 10101100 10111110 110010101 1100100 001001001111 11101 110101 110011110 10010101 11111001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 543
Words 98
Sentences 1
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 5, 6
Lines Amount 19
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 150
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 10, 2023

29 sec read
134

Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse was a German poet, novelist, and painter. more…

All Hermann Hesse poems | Hermann Hesse Books

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