Analysis of The Shell
James Stephens 1882 (Dublin) – 1950
AND then I pressed the shell
Close to my ear
And listened well,
And straightway like a bell
Came low and clear
The slow, sad murmur of the distant seas,
Whipped by an icy breeze
Upon a shore
Wind-swept and desolate.
It was a sunless strand that never bore
The footprint of a man,
Nor felt the weight
Since time began
Of any human quality or stir
Save what the dreary winds and waves incur.
And in the hush of waters was the sound
Of pebbles rolling round,
For ever rolling with a hollow sound.
And bubbling sea-weeds as the waters go
Swish to and fro
Their long, cold tentacles of slimy grey.
There was no day,
Nor ever came a night
Setting the stars alight
To wonder at the moon:
Was twilight only and the frightened croon,
Smitten to whimpers, of the dreary wind
And waves that journeyed blind-
And then I loosed my ear ... O, it was sweet
To hear a cart go jolting down the street.
Scheme | ABAACDDEFEGHGIIJJJKKLLMMNNOOPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (43%) Etheree (23%) |
Metre | 011101 1111 0101 01101 1101 0111010101 111101 0101 110100 110111101 01101 1101 1101 1101010011 1101010101 0001110101 110101 1101010101 01001110101 1101 1111001101 1111 110101 100101 110101 111000101 101110101 011101 0111111111 1101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 874 |
Words | 171 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 693 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 170 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 457 Views
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