Analysis of The Beach

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



Louder than gulls the little children scream
Whom fathers haul into the jovial foam;
But others fearlessly rush in, breast high,
Laughing the salty water from their mouthes--
Heroes of the nursery.

The horny boatman, who has seen whales
And flying fishes, who has sailed as far
As Demerara and the Ivory Coast,
Will warn them, when they crowd to hear his tales,
That every ocean smells of tar.


Scheme XXXAX ABXAB
Poetic Form Etheree  (20%)
Metre 1011010101 11010101001 11011011 1001010111 1010100 010101111 0101011111 11001001 1111111111 110010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 401
Words 71
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 5, 5
Lines Amount 10
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 157
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

21 sec read
403

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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