Analysis of Dunes

Carl Sandburg 1878 (Galesburg) – 1967 (Flat Rock)



What do we see here in the sand dunes of the white moon alone with our thoughts, Bill,
Alone with our dreams, Bill, soft as the women tying scarves around their heads dancing,
Alone with a picture and a picture coming one after the other of all the dead,
The dead more than all these grains of sand one by one piled here in the moon,
Piled against the sky-line taking shapes like the hand of the wind wanted,
What do we see here, Bill, outside of what the wise men beat their heads on,
Outside of what the poets cry for and the soldiers drive on headlong and leave their skulls in the sun for—what, Bill?


Scheme ABCDEFA
Poetic Form
Metre 11111001110110111011 011101111010101011110 0110100010101100101101 01111111111111001 10101110110110110 11111111110111111 11110101100101110111001111
Characters 613
Words 119
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 7
Lines Amount 7
Letters per line (avg) 68
Words per line (avg) 17
Letters per stanza (avg) 473
Words per stanza (avg) 117
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

35 sec read
144

Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor best known for poetry. more…

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