Analysis of The Storm

Katherine Mansfield 1888 (Wellington) – 1923 (Fontainebleau, Île-de-France)



I Ran to the forest for shelter,
Breathless, half sobbing;
I put my arms round a tree,
Pillowed my head against the rough bark.
"Protect me," I said.  "I am a lost child."
But the tree showered silver drops on my face and hair.
A wind sprang up from the ends of the earth;
It lashed the forest together.
A huge green wave thundered and burst over my head.
I prayed, implored, "Please take care of me!"
But the wind pulled at my cloak and the rain beat upon
          me.
Little rivers tore up the ground and swamped the bushes.
A frenzy possessed the earth: I felt that the earth was
          drowning
In a bubbling cavern of space.  I alone--
Smaller than the smallest fly--was alive and terrified.
     Then for what reason I know not, I became trium-
          phant
"Well, kill me!" I cried and ran out into the open.
But the storm ceased: the sun spread his wings
And floated serene in the silver pool of the sky.
I put my hands over my face: I was blushing.
And the trees swung together and delicately laughed.


Scheme ABCDEFGAHCICJKBLMNEOPQBR
Poetic Form
Metre 111010110 10110 1111101 11101011 0111111011 1011010111101 0111101101 11010010 011110011011 110111111 1011111001101 1 1010110101010 0100101111011 10 001001011101 1010101101010 111101111011 1 1111101101010 101101111 0100100101101 111110111110 0011010010001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,002
Words 193
Sentences 17
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 752
Words per stanza (avg) 189
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

56 sec read
81

Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. more…

All Katherine Mansfield poems | Katherine Mansfield Books

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