Analysis of The Sleep-Walkers

Khalil Gibran 1883 (Bsharri) – 1931 (New York City)



In the town where I was born lived a woman and her daughter, who
walked in their sleep.

One night, while silence enfolded the world, the woman and her
daughter, walking, yet asleep, met in their mist-veiled garden.

And the mother spoke, and she said: 'At last, at last, my enemy!
You by whom my youth was destroyed--who have built up your life
upon the ruins of mine! Would I could kill you!'

And the daughter spoke, and she said: 'O hateful woman, selfish
and old! Who stand between my freer self and me! Who would have
my life an echo of your own faded life! Would you were dead!'

At that moment a cock crew, and both women awoke. The mother said
gently, 'Is that you, darling?' And the daughter answered gently,
'Yes, dear.'


Scheme AX XX BXA XXC CBX
Poetic Form
Metre 0011111101000101 1011 1111010101000 10101011011110 0010101111111100 11111101111111 010101111111 001010111101010 011101110101111 111101111011101 11100110110010101 101111000101010 11
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 723
Words 141
Sentences 13
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 3, 3, 3
Lines Amount 13
Letters per line (avg) 42
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 110
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 20, 2023

41 sec read
94

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese artist, poet, and writer. more…

All Khalil Gibran poems | Khalil Gibran Books

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