Analysis of Epitaph. (On a Commonplace Person Who Died in Bed)
Amy Levy 1861 (London) – 1889 (London)
THIS is the end of him, here he lies:
The dust in his throat, the worm in his eyes,
The mould in his mouth, the turf on his breast;
This is the end of him, this is best.
He will never lie on his couch awake,
Wide-eyed, tearless, till dim daybreak.
Never again will he smile and smile
When his heart is breaking all the while.
He will never stretch out his hands in vain
Groping and groping--never again.
Never ask for bread, get a stone instead,
Never pretend that the stone is bread.
Never sway and sway 'twixt the false and true,
Weighing and noting the long hours through.
Never ache and ache with chok'd-up sighs;
This is the end of him, here he lies.
Scheme | AabbccddefgghhaA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111111 0101101011 0101101111 110111111 1110111101 111111 100111101 111110101 1110111101 100101001 1011110101 100110111 1010110101 1001001101 101011111 110111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 679 |
Words | 128 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 502 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 126 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 141 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Epitaph. (On a Commonplace Person Who Died in Bed)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2123/epitaph.-%28on-a-commonplace-person-who-died-in-bed%29>.
Discuss this Amy Levy 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