Analysis of At The Back Of The Brain.

Robert Crawford 1959 (Bellshill)



At the back of the brain a picture lies
Of all we have been and done,
And ever and then a color flames
In the shadow of thought's sun.
At the back of the brain our life-tale's writ
In wondrous words and fine,
And poet and painter but mimic it,
Your life, my friend, and mine.
They are God's spies it may be, yet
They lack the art to limn
The back of the brain of a man that moves
And makes a dream of him.


Scheme ABCBDEDEFBGH
Poetic Form
Metre 1011010101 1111101 010010101 001111 10110110111 010101 0100101101 111101 11111111 110111 0110110111 010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 402
Words 88
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 307
Words per stanza (avg) 86
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

27 sec read
427

Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford FRSE FBA is a Scottish poet, scholar and critic. He is currently Professor of English at the University of St Andrews.  more…

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