Analysis of Contemplating Hell

Bertolt Brecht 1898 (Augsburg) – 1956 (East Berlin)



Contemplating Hell, as I once heard it,
My brother Shelley found it to be a place
Much like the city of London. I,
Who do not live in London, but in Los Angeles,
Find, contemplating Hell, that it
Must be even more like Los Angeles.

Also in Hell,
I do not doubt it, there exist these opulent gardens
With flowers as large as trees, wilting, of course,
Very quickly, if they are not watered with very expensive water. And fruit markets
With great leaps of fruit, which nonetheless

Possess neither scent nor taste. And endless trains of autos,
Lighter than their own shadows, swifter than
Foolish thoughts, shimmering vehicles, in which
Rosy people, coming from nowhere, go nowhere.
And houses, designed for happiness, standing empty,
Even when inhabited.

Even the houses in Hell are not all ugly.
But concern about being thrown into the street
Consumes the inhabitants of the villas no less
Than the inhabitants of the barracks.


Scheme AXXBAB XXXXC XXXXDX DXCX
Poetic Form
Metre 100111111 11010111101 110101101 1111010101100 1100111 1110111100 1001 11111101110010 11011111011 1010111110110010100110 11111101 01101110101110 101111101 10110010001 1010101111 0100111001010 1010100 100100111110 101011010101 0100100101011 1001001010
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 934
Words 161
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 5, 6, 4
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 184
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 19, 2023

48 sec read
121

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, theatre director, and Marxist. more…

All Bertolt Brecht poems | Bertolt Brecht Books

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