Analysis of Welsh Incident
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
'But that was nothing to what things came out
From the sea-caves of Criccieth yonder.'
'What were they? Mermaids? dragons? ghosts?'
'Nothing at all of any things like that.'
'What were they, then?'
'All sorts of queer things,
Things never seen or heard or written about,
Very strange, un-Welsh, utterly peculiar
Things. Oh, solid enough they seemed to touch,
Had anyone dared it. Marvellous creation,
All various shapes and sizes, and no sizes,
All new, each perfectly unlike his neighbour,
Though all came moving slowly out together.'
'Describe just one of them.'
'I am unable.'
'What were their colours?'
&n bsp; 'Mostly nameless colours,
Colours you'd like to see; but one was puce
Or perhaps more like crimson, but not purplish.
Some had no colour.'
&n bsp; 'Tell me, had they legs?'
'Not a leg or foot among them that I saw.'
'But did these things come out in any order?'
What o'clock was it? What was the day of the week?
Who else was present? How was the weather?'
'I was coming to that. It was half-past three
On Easter Tuesday last. The sun was shining.
The Harlech Silver Band played Marchog Jesu
On thrity-seven shimmering instruments
Collecting for Caernarvon's (Fever) Hospital Fund.
The populations of Pwllheli, Criccieth,
Portmadoc, Borth, Tremadoc, Penrhyndeudraeth,
Were all assembled. Criccieth's mayor addressed them
First in good Welsh and then in fluent English,
Twisting his fingers in his chain of office,
Welcoming the things. They came out on the sand,
Not keeping time to the band, moving seaward
Silently at a snail's pace. But at last
The most odd, indescribable thing of all
Which hardly one man there could see for wonder
Did something recognizably a something.'
'Well, what?'
'It made a noise.'
&n bsp; 'A frightening noise?'
'No, no.'
'A musical noise? A noise of scuffling?'
'No, but a very loud, respectable noise ---
Like groaning to oneself on Sunday morning
In Chapel, close before the second psalm.'
'What did the mayor do?'
&n bsp; 'I was coming to that.'
Scheme | ABCDEFABGHIBBJKCCCLBMNBOBPQCRSTTJLUVWXYBQZ1 1 2 Q1 Q3 4 D |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 10111110 1011101 1011110111 1011 11111 11011111001 10111100010 1110011111 110111010 110010100110 1111000111 11110101010 011111 11010 1011 1110101 111111111 10111101110 1111 1111111 10111011111 11111101010 101111101101 1111011010 11101111111 11010101110 01101111 1110100100 0101110101 0010111 1111 01010110011 10110101010 10110011110 10001111101 11011011010 1001011111 0110100111 11011111110 1101000010 11 1101 1101001 11 01001011100 11010101001 110111110 0101010101 110101 11111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,220 |
Words | 361 |
Sentences | 40 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 51 |
Lines Amount | 51 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,522 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 413 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 138 Views
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"Welsh Incident" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31219/welsh-incident>.
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