Analysis of The Shadow
John Boyle O'Reilly 1844 (Dowth) – 1890 (Boston)
THERE is a shadow on the sunny wall,
Dark and forbidding, like a bode of ill;
Go, drive it thence. Alas, such shadows fall
From real things, nor may be moved at will.
There is a shadow on my heart to-day,
A cloudy grief condensing to a tear:
Alas, I cannot drive its gloom away—
Some sin or sorrow casts the shapeless fear.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (50%) |
Metre | 110110101 1001010111 111101111 111111111 110111111 0101010101 0111011101 1111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 333 |
Words | 65 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 8 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 124 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 19 sec read
- 106 Views
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"The Shadow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22076/the-shadow>.
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