Analysis of Sloth (I) & (II)
Sloth (I)
Too many a Samsan lip your teeth indent:
Too many a Sybil girl you lure to make
The Great Refusal for a fireside sake:
And glamoured poet many a look has sent
Into those eyeballs bear-brown, somnolent,
Nor dreamed that devils in each muddy lake
Were sucking his devotion in to slake
The furrowed belly of your fanged content!
Religion's bane and Freedom's subtlest foe!
Behold the poppied freight your barges bring
The dim-lit souls that crave the prophet's gleam,
Or fettered people's writhing 'neath their woe--
Gossamer clips and thriftless harvesting
Of phantom flocks and shadowy tilth of dream!
Sloth (II)
My dreams dissolve the day's illusive net:
While crested Action's billows blinding beat,
Omniscient Eyes in troughs of Faith I meet:
I wait with ancient stars until they set
Lest forward progress should their runes forget:
I am the rest that makes the bar complete:
And, in the shackled body of Defeat,
The womb of Baby Triumph living yet!
I am the blende of sleeping radiance:
The Siding where belated Industry
Draws from a Silent Tank tomorrow's zest:
Prophetic Art's preparatory Trance:
Dilating Force's Sabbath systole:
The Night of Brahm when worn Creators rest!
Scheme | ABCCBXCCBDEFDEF AGHHGGHHGXXIXXI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11 1100111101 11001011111 0101010101 0110100111 011111100 1111001101 0101010011 0101011110 010101011 010111101 011111011 1101010111 100101100 11010100111 11 1101010101 1101010101 0101011111 1111010111 110111101 1101110101 0001010101 0111010101 1101110100 0101010100 110101011 010101001 110101 0111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,197 |
Words | 200 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 15, 15 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 477 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 75 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Sloth (I) & (II)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4283/sloth-%28i%29-%26-%28ii%29>.
Discuss this Bernard O'Dowd poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In