Analysis of Full Moon
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
As I walked out one harvest night
About the stroke of One,
The Moon attained to her full height
Stood beaming like the Sun.
She exorcised the ghostly wheat
To mute assent in Love's defeat
Whose tryst had now begun.
The fields lay sick beneath my tread,
A tedious owlet cried;
The nightingale above my head
With this or that replied,
Like man and wife who nightly keep
Inconsequent debate in sleep
As they dream side by side.
Your phantom wore the moon's cold mask,
My phantom wore the same,
Forgetful of the feverish task
In hope of which they came,
Each image held the other's eyes
And watched a grey distraction rise
To cloud the eager flame.
To cloud the eager flame of love,
To fog the shining gate:
They held the tyrannous queen above
Sole mover of their fate,
They glared as marble statues glare
Across the tessellated stair
Or down the Halls of State.
And now cold earth was Arctic sea,
Each breath came dagger keen,
Two bergs of glinting ice were we,
The broad moon sailed between;
There swam the mermaids, tailed and finned,
And Love went by upon the wind
As though it had not been.
Scheme | ABABCCB DEDEFFE GHGHIIH JKJKLLK MNMNAXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11111101 010111 01011011 110101 110101 11010101 111101 01110111 010011 01000111 111101 11011101 10101 111111 11010111 110101 010101001 011111 11010101 01010101 110101 11010111 110101 1101101 110111 1111011 01011 110111 01111101 111101 11110101 011101 1101101 01110101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,065 |
Words | 203 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 257 Views
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