Analysis of Conrad in Twilight

John Crowe Ransom 1888 (Pulaski) – 1974 (Gambier)



Conrad, Conrad, aren't you old
To sit so late in your mouldy garden?
And I think Conrad knows it well,
Nursing his knees, too rheumy and cold
To warm the wraith of a Forest of Arden.

Neuralgia in the back of his neck,
His lungs filling with such miasma,
His feet dipping in leafage and muck:
Conrad! you've forgotten asthma.

Conrad's house has thick red walls,
The log on Conrad's hearth is blazing,
Slippers and pipe and tea are served,
Butter and toast are meant for pleasing!
Still Conrad's back is not uncurved
And here's an autumn on him, teasing.

Autumn days in our section
Are the most used-up thing on earth
(Or in the waters under the earth)
Having no more color nor predilection
Than cornstalks too wet for the fire,
A ribbon rotting on the byre,
A man's face as weathered as straw
By the summer's flare and winter's flaw.


Scheme ABXAB XCXC XDXDAD BEEBFFGG
Poetic Form
Metre 10101011 1111011010 01110111 10111101 11011010110 1001111 111011010 11100101 10101010 1011111 011101110 10010111 100111110 1101111 011101110 10101010 10111111 100101001 1011101010 11111010 01010101 01111011 101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 840
Words 154
Sentences 8
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 5, 4, 6, 8
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 162
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
107

John Crowe Ransom

John Crowe Ransom was an educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. more…

All John Crowe Ransom poems | John Crowe Ransom Books

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