Analysis of Rock And Hawk

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts
Watch their own eyes.

This gray rock, standing tall
On the headland, where the seawind
Lets no tree grow,

Earthquake-proved, and signatured
By ages of storms: on its peak
A falcon has perched.

I think here is your emblem
To hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive,

But this; bright power, dark peace;
Fierce consciousness joined with final
Disinterestedness;

Life with calm death; the falcon's
Realist eyes and act
Married to the massive

Mysticism of stone,
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.


Scheme XAX XBX BXB XXX XXA ABX XXB
Poetic Form
Metre 1101001 101101 1111 111101 101101 1111 1101 11011111 01011 1111110 1100101 101101 1111011 11001110 1 111101 100101 101010 10011 1101011 10111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 564
Words 101
Sentences 4
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 66
Words per stanza (avg) 14
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

30 sec read
116

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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