Analysis of Going Blind
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
She sat just like the others at the table.
But on second glance, she seemed to hold her cup
a little differently as she picked it up.
She smiled once. It was almost painful.
And when they finished and it was time to stand
and slowly, as chance selected them, they left
and moved through many rooms (they talked and laughed),
I saw her. She was moving far behind
the others, absorbed, like someone who will soon
have to sing before a large assembly;
upon her eyes, which were radiant with joy,
light played as on the surface of a pool.
She followed slowly, taking a long time,
as though there were some obstacle in the way;
and yet: as though, once it was overcome,
she would be beyond all walking, and would fly.
Scheme | ABBA XXXX XXXX XXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (25%) |
Metre | 11110101010 11101111101 01010011111 11111110 01110011111 01011010111 0111011101 1101110101 0100111111 1110101010 01011010011 1111010101 1101010011 11101100001 011111110 11101110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 705 |
Words | 136 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 139 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 265 Views
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"Going Blind" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29675/going-blind>.
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