Analysis of Two Hours Before Dawn
It’s two hours before dawn,
and I’ve slept through the night
The rarest occurrence,
but her footsteps come light
She let me sleep soundly,
and she let me dream free
Before entering my bedroom
and calling to me
“Kurt, it’s Laura, she whispered,
as she got into bed
“Are you happy in the solitude
alone in your head
“Your spirit’s been truant
but its voice I recalled
“Wake up from your sleep
and follow me down the hall
“I’ve something to show you,
so rub out your eyes
“And see what you looked like
as a boy about five
She led me straight down
to the end of the hall
The door was half open
and my voice I heard call
“Aunt Laura, my crayons
have broken again
“Aunt Laura, get ready,
I’ve new words to begin
“The ones that you left me,
I now know by heart
“And to Mother and Father
I recited each part”
The boy smiled at her,
and she smiled back at him
Before walking me back down
to my room deep within
“I’ve always been with you,
you know it so clear
“As your Muse I’ve been charged
with your care all these years
“You were young when I met you
and took you by hand
“Then to never abandon
your voice as a man
“Your days may come easy,
and your days may come hard
“But each night I’ll return
—with new words from afar”
(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)
Scheme | XA XA BB XB XC XC XX XD EX XX FD GD XX BH BI JI JX FH EX XX EX GX BX XX B |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110011 011101 010010 10111 111110 011111 0110011 01011 1110110 111011 11100010 01011 110110 111101 11111 0101101 110111 11111 011111 101011 11111 101101 011110 011111 11011 11001 110110 111101 011111 11111 0110010 101011 01110 011111 0110111 111101 11111 11111 111111 111111 1011111 01111 1110010 11101 111110 011111 111101 111101 010010100 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,326 |
Words | 246 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 25 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 39 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 10 |
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"Two Hours Before Dawn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/46700/two-hours-before-dawn>.
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