Analysis of Slumber Song
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
Some day, if I should ever lose you,
will you be able then to go to sleep
without me softly whispering above you
like night air stirring in the linden tree?
Without my waking here and watching
and saying words as tender as eyelids
that come to rest weightlessly upon your breast,
upon your sleeping limbs, upon your lips?
Without my touching you and leaving you
alone with what is yours, like a summer garden
that is overflowing with masses
of melissa and star-anise?
Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming
Scheme | AXAX BXXX AXXX B |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111011 1111011111 01110100011 1111000101 011101010 010111011 111110111 0111010111 0111010101 011111101010 11100110 10100110 0101101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 500 |
Words | 91 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 13 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 27 sec read
- 259 Views
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