Analysis of Eve
Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)
By water's edge, quiet willows stand,
And from the steep bank, high noon flings
White fleecy clouds into the pond
As if they were a fisher's seines.
The firmament sinks like a net,
A crowd of sunburnt bathers dive
With yells into the pond, and head
For this elusive netlike sky.
Some women from the water rise
Under the scanty willows' lee,
And stepping on the sand, wring dry
Their bathing costumes hurriedly.
The coils of fabric twist and slide
Like water-snakes, and nimbly roll,
As if the dripping garments hide
Beguiling serpents in their folds.
0 woman, neither looks nor shape
Will nonplus me or make me gloat.
You, all of you, are like a lump
In my excitement-stricken throat.
You look as if hewn in the rough-
A stray verse line dashed off ad lib.
You make me think it is the truth-
That you were made out of my rib.
And instantly you broke away
From my embrace, and moved apart,
All fear, confusion, disarray-
And missing beats of a man's heart.
Scheme | XAXA XXXB XCBC DXDX XEXE XFXF GHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 11011011 01011111 11010101 11100101 011101 0111101 11010101 1101011 11010101 1001011 01010111 11001100 01110101 11010101 11010101 01010011 1010111 1111111 11111101 01010101 11111001 01111111 11111101 11011111 01001101 11010101 1101001 01011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 936 |
Words | 177 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 51 Views
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"Eve" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4481/eve>.
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