Analysis of The Cycle
Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)
The clapping blackness of the wings of pointed cormorants,
the great indolent planes
Of autumn pelicans nine or a dozen strung shorelong,
But chiefly the gulls, the cloud-caligraphers of windy spirals
before a storm,
Cruise north and south over the sea-rocks and over
That bluish enormous opal; very lately these alone, these and the
clouds
And westering lights of heaven, crossed it; but then
A hull with standing canvas crept about Point Lobos . . . now
all day long the steamers
Smudge the opal's rim; often a seaplane troubles
The sea-wind with its throbbing heart. These will increase, the
others diminish; and later
These will diminish; our Pacific has pastured
The Mediterranean torch and passed it west across the fountains
of the morning;
And the following desolation that feeds on Crete
Feed here; the clapping blackness of the wings of pointed cormorants,
the great sails
Of autumn pelicans, the gray sea-going gulls,
Alone will streak the enormous opal, the earth have peace like the
broad water, our blood's
Unrest have doubled to Asia and be peopling
Europe again, or dropping colonies at the morning star: what
moody traveler
Wanders back here, watches the sea-fowl circle
The old sea-granite and cemented granite with one regard, and
greets my ghost,
One temper with the granite, bulking about here?
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKDGFLMCLANDGOCLFPLLQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010101110100 011001 1101001101011 1100101111010 0101 110110011010 110010101010101100 1 0111101111 01110101011101 111010 10101100110 0111110111010 10010010 110101001011 0001001011101010 1010 001000101111 1101010101110100 011 110100011101 0111001010011110 110101 01110110011 1001110100101011 10100 10111001110 0111000101011010 111 11010101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,294 |
Words | 216 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,061 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 217 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 56 Views
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"The Cycle" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32870/the-cycle>.
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