Analysis of Dedication to M.
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
Swing of the heart. O firmly hung, fastened on what
invisible branch. Who, who gave you the push,
that you swung with me into the leaves?
How near I was to the exquisite fruits. But not-staying
is the essence of this motion. Only the nearness, only
toward the forever-too-high, all at once the possible
nearness. Vicinities, then
from an irresistibly swung-up-to place
-already, once again, lost-the new sight, the outlook.
And now: the commanded return
back and across and into equilbrium's arms.
Below, in between, hesitation, the pull of earth, the passage
through the turning-point of the heavy-, past it: and the
catapult stretches,
weighted with the heart's curiosity,
to the other side, opposite, upward.
Again how different, how new! How they envy each other
at the ends of the rope, these opposite halves of pleasure.
Or, shall I dare it: these quarters?-And include, since it
witholds itself,
that other half-circle, the one whose impetus pushes the
swing?
I'm not just imagining it, as the mirror of my here-and-now
arc. Guess nothing. It will be
newer someday. But from endpoint to endpoint
of the arc that I have most dared, I already fully possess it:
overflowings from me plunge over to it and fill it,
stretch it apart, almost. And my own parting,
when the force that pushes me someday
stops, makes it all the more near.
Scheme | XXXABXXXXXXXCXBXDD EXCAXBXEEAXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111011011 01001111101 111110101 11111010011110 10101110100110 010010111110100 111 1101001111 010101101101 01001001 100100111 010010100111010 1010110101100 1010 101010100 1010110010 011100111110110 10110111001110 1111111000111 101 110110011100100 1 11101001101011101 1110111 10111111 10111111101010011 11111011011 1101101110 10111011 1111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,315 |
Words | 230 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 12 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 521 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 114 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 151 Views
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