Analysis of Vigil
Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931
At night, when all the house is still,
Wide-waked the chairs and tables come
And yawn and stretch their limbs until
The maids appear with pan and broom.
Through the dim hours they creak and groan,
Their laughter plays with tyrant Man,
Shaken with stiff derision
For his pretensions and his span.
Where's then their willing servitude ?
Meek slaves for their creator's use.
They make a mock of flesh and blood
That passes with a morning's dews.
The heart that once leaped in the tree
Yet lives in the fantastic shapes
That foolish Man hath made to be --
But see how wide yon cupboard gapes!
With ' Yours' and 'Mine' they make great sport,
Who saw us come and see us go,
And will be when no least report
Of us but what a stone can show.
When ghosts and owlets flit abroad,
The furniture's awake, aware,
The floor complaining of its load,
And what a creaking of the stair.
Scheme | AXAX XBXB XCXX DXDC EFEF XGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
Metre | 11110111 11010101 01011101 01011101 101101101 11011101 1011010 11010011 1111010 111111 11011101 11010101 01111001 11000101 11011111 11111101 11011111 11110111 01111101 11110111 1101101 01000101 01010111 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 853 |
Words | 163 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 100 Views
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"Vigil" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25092/vigil>.
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