Analysis of At Sea

Aleister Crowley 1875 (Leamington Spa) – 1947 (Hastings)



As night hath stars, more rare than ships
In ocean, faint from pole to pole,
So all the wonder of her lips
Hints her innavigable soul.

Such lights she gives as guide my bark;
But I am swallowed in the swell
Of her heart's ocean, sagely dark,
That holds my heaven and holds my hell.

In her I live, a mote minute
Dancing a moment in the sun:
In her I die, a sterile shoot
Of nightshade in oblivion.

In her my elf dissolves, a grain
Of salt cast careless in the sea;
My passion purifies my pain
To peace past personality.

Love of my life, God grant the years
Confirm the chrism - rose to rood!
Anointing loves, asperging tears
In sanctifying solitude!

Man is so infinitely small
In all these stars, determinate.
Maker and moulder of them all,
Man is so infinitely great!


Scheme ABAB CDCD XEXE FGFG XHXH IJIJ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11111111 01011111 11010101 1011 11111111 11110001 1011011 111100111 00110110 10010001 00110101 1100100 00110101 11110001 110111 1110100 11111101 0101111 1111 0110 11110001 0111010 10010111 11110001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 753
Words 147
Sentences 9
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 100
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

44 sec read
149

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, and mountaineer. more…

All Aleister Crowley poems | Aleister Crowley Books

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