Analysis of The Riddle Of The Sphinx
Leon Gellert 1892 (Australia) – 1977
Thou gazing face above the shifting sands!
Oh, turn thy tearless eyes and answer me!
Will honour come to thee and to thy land.
That this should be?
Those swarthy adamantine breasts of stone
Are now matured beneath thine Egypt sun.
Wilt profit by this brood of iron bone
That this be done?
Oh answer me, thou silent gazing face,
All-gifted with the wisdom of the years,
These teeth of Jason, - will they bring thee grace,
Or bring thee tears?
Scheme | XAXA BCBC DXDX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
Metre | 1101010101 111110101 111110111 1111 1101111 1101011101 1101111101 1111 1101110101 1101010101 1111011111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 439 |
Words | 83 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 24 sec read
- 115 Views
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"The Riddle Of The Sphinx" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25476/the-riddle-of-the-sphinx>.
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