Analysis of The Sonnets To Orpheus: IV
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
O you tender ones, walk now and then
into the breath that blows coldly past,
Upon your cheeks let it tremble and part;
behind you it will tremble together again.
O you blessed ones, you who are whole,
you who seem the beginning of hearts,
bows for the arrows and arrows' targets--
tear-bright, your lips more eternally smile.
Don't be afraid to suffer; return
that heaviness to the earth's own weight;
heavy are the mountains, heavy the seas.
Even the small trees you planted as children
have long since become too heavy; you could not
carry them now. But the winds...But the spaces....
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
Scheme | AXXA XXXX XXX XXX X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111011101 010111101 0111111001 011111001001 11111111 111001011 1101001010 1111101001 110111001 1110111 1010101001 10011110110 11101110111 1011101010 01011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 611 |
Words | 110 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 3, 3, 1 |
Lines Amount | 15 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 33 sec read
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"The Sonnets To Orpheus: IV" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29735/the-sonnets-to-orpheus%3A-iv>.
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