Analysis of A Symbol
Mathilde Blind 1841 (Mannheim) – 1896 (London)
Hurrying for ever in their restless flight
The generations of earth's teeming womb
Rise into being and lapse into the tomb
Like transient bubbles sparkling in the light;
They sink in quick succession out of sight
Into the thick insuperable gloom
Our futile lives in flashing by illume--
Lightning which mocks the darkness of the night.
Nay--but consider, though we change and die,
If men must pass shall Man not still remain?
As the unnumbered drops of summer rain
Whose changing particles unchanged on high,
Fixed, in perpetual motion, yet maintain
The mystic bow emblazoned on the sky.
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDDCDC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011001101 001011101 10110010101 1101010001 1101010111 010111 1010101011 1011010101 1101011101 1111111101 10111101 1101000111 10010010101 0101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 595 |
Words | 100 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 238 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 22, 2023
- 30 sec read
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