Analysis of Swifts (2)

Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)



At twilight the swifts have no power,
to hold back that pale blue coolness.
It bursts from throats, a clamour
an outpour that can’t grow less.

The swifts have no way, high
up there, overhead, of restraining
their clarion cries: ‘O, triumph,
see, see, how the earth’s receding!’

Like steam from a boiling kettle,
the furious flow rushes by –
‘See, see – no space for the earth
between the ravine and the sky.’


Scheme AXAX BCXC XBXB
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 11011110 11111110 111101 111111 011111 111011010 11001110 11101010 11101010 01001101 1111101 01001001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 421
Words 78
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 104
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

23 sec read
315

Boris Pasternak

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator. more…

All Boris Pasternak poems | Boris Pasternak Books

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