Analysis of Our Lady Peace
Mark Van Doren 1894 (Vermilion County) – 1972 (Torrington)
How far is it to peace, the piper sighed,
The solitary, sweating as he paused.
Asphalt the noon; the ravens, terrified,
Fled carrion thunder that percussion caused.
The envelope of earth was powder loud;
The taut wings shivered, driven at the sun.
The piper put his pipe away and bowed.
Not here, he said. I hunt the love-cool one,
The dancer with the clipped hair. Where is she?
We shook our heads, parting for him to pass.
Our lady was of no such trim degree,
And none of us had seen her face, alas.
She was the very ridges that we must scale,
Securing the rough top. And how she smiled
Was how our strength would issue. Not to fail
Was having her, gigantic, undefiled,
For homely goddess, big as the world that burned,
Grandmother and taskmistress, frild and town.
We let the stranger go; but when we turned
Our lady lived, fierce in each other's frown.
Scheme | AXAX BCBC DEDE FXFA GHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1111110101 010010111 10101010 11001010101 010111101 0111010101 0101110101 1111110111 0101011111 11101101111 10101111101 0111110101 11010101111 0100110111 11101110111 11000101 11010110111 1001101 1101011111 10101101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 845 |
Words | 159 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 223 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Our Lady Peace" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26554/our-lady-peace>.
Discuss this Mark Van Doren poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In