Analysis of Poem in Prose
Archibald MacLeish 1892 (Glencoe) – 1982 (Boston)
This poem is for my wife.
I have made it plainly and honestly:
The mark is on it
Like the burl on the knife.
I have not made it for praise.
She has no more need for praise
Than summer has
Or the bright days.
In all that becomes a woman
Her words and her ways are beautiful:
Love's lovely duty,
the well-swept room.
Wherever she is there is sun
And time and a sweet air:
Peace is there,
Work done.
There are always curtains and flowers
And candles and baked bread
And a cloth spread
And a clean house.
Her voice when she sings is a voice
At dawn by a freshening spring
Where the wave leaps in the wind
And rejoices.
Wherever she is it is now.
It is here where the apples are:
Here in the stars,
In the quick hour.
The greatest and richest good,
My own life to live in,
This she has given me --
If giver could.
Scheme | ABXA CCXC DXBX DEED XFFX XXXC XXXX GXB G |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111 1111100100 01111 101101 1111111 1111111 1101 1011 01101010 010011100 11010 0111 01011111 010011 111 11 11110010 010011 0011 0011 01111101 11101001 1011001 01 01011111 11110101 1001 00110 0100101 111110 111101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 785 |
Words | 166 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 1 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 69 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
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"Poem in Prose" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3762/poem-in-prose>.
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