Analysis of Carpe Diem
Robert Frost 1874 (San Francisco) – 1963 (Boston)
Age saw two quiet children
Go loving by at twilight,
He knew not whether homeward,
Or outward from the village,
Or (chimes were ringing) churchward,
He waited, (they were strangers)
Till they were out of hearing
To bid them both be happy.
'Be happy, happy, happy,
And seize the day of pleasure.'
The age-long theme is Age's.
'Twas Age imposed on poems
Their gather-roses burden
To warn against the danger
That overtaken lovers
From being overflooded
With happiness should have it.
And yet not know they have it.
But bid life seize the present?
It lives less in the present
Than in the future always,
And less in both together
Than in the past. The present
Is too much for the senses,
Too crowding, too confusing-
Too present to imagine.
Scheme | ABCDBEFGGHIJAHEBKKLLMHLIFA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010 110111 1111010 1101010 110101 1101010 1101110 1111110 1101010 0101110 0111110 1101110 1101010 1101010 110010 1101 1100111 0111111 1111010 1110010 100101 0101010 1001010 1111010 1101010 1101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 744 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 577 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 130 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 519 Views
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"Carpe Diem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30842/carpe-diem>.
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