Analysis of Men Are Heaven's Piers
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)
MEN are Heaven's piers; they evermore
Unwearying bear the skyey floor;
Man's theatre they bear with ease,
Unfrowning cariatides!
I, for my wife, the sun uphold,
Or, dozing, strike the seasons cold.
She, on her side, in fairy-wise
Deals in diviner mysteries,
By spells to make the fuel burn
And keep the parlour warm, to turn
Water to wine, and stones to bread,
By her unconquered hero-head.
A naked Adam, naked Eve,
Alone the primal bower we weave;
Sequestered in the seas of life,
A Crusoe couple, man and wife,
With all our good, with all our will,
Our unfrequented isle we fill;
And victor in day's petty wars,
Each for the other lights the stars.
Come then, my Eve, and to and fro
Let us about our garden go;
And, grateful-hearted, hand in hand
Revisit all our tillage land,
And marvel at our strange estate,
For hooded ruin at the gate
Sits watchful, and the angels fear
To see us tread so boldly here.
Meanwhile, my Eve, with flower and grass
Our perishable days we pass;
Far more the thorn observe - and see
How our enormous sins go free -
Nor less admire, beside the rose,
How far a little virtue goes.
Scheme | AABBCCDBEEFFGGHHIIJKLLMMNNOPQQRRSS |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101110 11011 11001111 11 11110101 11010101 11010101 101100 11110101 01010111 10110111 101101 01010101 010101011 01000111 01010101 1110111101 101111 01001101 11010101 11110101 110110101 01010101 01011011 010110101 11010101 11000101 11111101 11111001 101000111 11010101 110010111 11010101 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,085 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 34 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 856 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 204 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 36 Views
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