Analysis of Adam

Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)



Marveling he stands on the cathedral's
steep ascent, close to the rose window,
as though frightened at the apotheosis
which grew and all at once

set him down over these and these.
And straight he stands and glad of his endurance,
simply determined; as the husbandman
who began and who knew not how

from the garden of Eden finished-full
to find a way out into
the new earth. God was hard to persuade;

and threatened him, instead of acceding,
ever and again, that he would die.
Yet man persisted: she will bring forth.


Scheme AXAA AAXX XXX XXX
Poetic Form
Metre 10011101 101110110 1110100010 110111 11110101 01110111100 10010101 10101111 1010110101 1101101 011111101 0101011010 100011111 110101111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 513
Words 95
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 102
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

28 sec read
1,137

Rainer Maria Rilke

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke — better known as Rainer Maria Rilke — was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. more…

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