Analysis of The Secret
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
WHAT says the wind to the waving trees?
What says the wave to the river?
What means the sigh in the passing breeze?
Why do the rushes quiver?
Have you not heard the fainting cry
Of the flowers that said 'Good-bye, good-bye'?
List how the gray dove moans and grieves
Under the woodland cover;
List to the drift of the falling leaves,
List to the wail of the lover.
Have you not caught the message heard
Already by wave and breeze and bird?
Come, come away to the river's bank,
Come in the early morning;
Come when the grass with dew is dank,
There you will find the warning —
A hint in the kiss of the quickening air
Of the secret that birds and breezes bear.
Scheme | ABABCCDBDBEEFGFGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110110101 11011010 110100101 1101010 11110101 1010111111 11011101 100110 110110101 11011010 11110101 010110101 110110101 1001010 11011111 1111010 01001101001 1010110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 651 |
Words | 129 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 18 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 511 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 127 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 92 Views
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"The Secret" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28947/the-secret>.
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