Analysis of The Song Of Shadows
Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)
"Sweep thy faint strings, Musician,
With thy long lean hand;
Downward the starry tapers burn,
Sinks soft the waning sand;
The old hound whimpers couched in sleep,
The embers smoulder low;
Across the walls the shadows
Come, and go.
Sweep softly thy strings, Musician,
The minutes mount to hours;
Frost on the windless casement weaves
A labyrinth of flowers;
Ghosts linger in the darkening air,
Hearken at the open door;
Music hath called them, dreaming,
Home once more."
Scheme | ABXBXCXC ADXDXEXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010 11111 10010101 110101 0111101 01011 010101 101 11011010 0101110 110111 010110 110001001 110101 1011110 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 462 |
Words | 81 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 186 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 24 sec read
- 110 Views
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