Analysis of Self
James Oppenheim 1882 – 1932 (New York City)
Once I freed myself of my duties to tasks and people and went down to the cleansing sea...
The air was like wine to my spirit,
The sky bathed my eyes with infinity,
The sun followed me, casting golden snares on the tide,
And the ocean—masses of molten surfaces, faintly gray-blue—sang to my heart...
Then I found myself, all here in the body and brain, and all there on the shore:
Content to be myself: free, and strong, and enlarged:
Then I knew the depths of myself were the depths of space.
And all living beings were of those depths (my brothers and sisters)
And that by going inward and away from duties, cities, street-cars and greetings,
I was dipping behind all surfaces, piercing cities and people,
And entering in and possessing them, more than a brother,
The surge of all life in them and in me...
So I swore I would be myself (there by the ocean)
And I swore I would cease to neglect myself, but would take myself as my mate,
Solemn marriage and deep: midnights of thought to be:
Long mornings of sacred communion, and twilights of talk,
Myself and I, long parted, clasping and married till death.
Scheme | A XAX X XXX XXX XA XXA XX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111101101001110101 011111110 0111110100 0110110101101 00101011010010111111 111111001001011101 10111101001 111011100111 0110100111110010 01110100011101011010 11100111001010010 010000010111010 0111101001 111111111010 01111110111111111 10100111111 1101100100111 101110101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,096 |
Words | 202 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 3, 1, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 48 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 108 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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"Self" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53943/self>.
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