Analysis of Cruelty And Love
Wilfrid Wilson Gibson 1878 (Hexham) – 1962
What large, dark hands are those at the window
Lifted, grasping in the yellow light
Which makes its way through the curtain web
At my heart to-night?
Ah, only the leaves! So leave me at rest,
In the west I see a redness come
Over the evening's burning breast -
For now the pain is numb.
The woodbine creeps abroad
Calling low to her lover:
The sunlit flirt who all the day
Has poised above her lips in play
And stolen kisses, shallow and gay
Of dalliance, now has gone away
- She woos the moth with her sweet, low word,
And when above her his broad wings hover
Then her bright breast she will uncover
And yield her honey-drop to her lover.
Into the yellow, evening glow
Saunters a man from the farm below,
Leans, and looks in at the low-built shed
Where hangs the swallow's marriage bed.
The bird lies warm against the wall.
She glances quick her startled eyes
Towards him, then she turns away
Her small head, making warm display
Of red upon the throat. Her terrors sway
Her out of the nest's warm, busy ball,
Whose plaintive cries start up as she flies
In one blue stoop from out the sties
Into the evening's empty hall.
Oh, water-hen, beside the rushes
Hide your quaint, unfading blushes,
Still your quick tail, and lie as dead,
Till the distance covers his dangerous tread.
The rabbit presses back her ears,
Turns back her liquid, anguished eyes
And crouches low: then with wild spring
Spurts from the terror of the oncoming
To be choked back, the wire ring
Her frantic effort throttling:
Piteous brown ball of quivering fears!
Ah soon in his large, hard hands she dies,
And swings all loose to the swing of his walk.
Yet calm and kindly are his eyes
And ready to open in brown surprise
Should I not answer to his talk
Or should he my tears surmise.
I hear his hand on the latch, and rise from my chair
Watching the door open: he flashes bare
His strong teeth in a smile, and flashes his eyes
In a smile like triumph upon me; then careless-wise
He flings the rabbit soft on the table board
And comes towards me: ah, the uplifted sword
Of his hand against my bosom, and oh, the broad
Blade of his hand that raises my face to applaud
His coming: he raises up my face to him
And caresses my mouth with his fingers, smelling grim
Of the rabbit's fur! God, I am caught in a snare
I know not what fine wire is round my throat,
I only know I let him finger there
My pulse of life, letting him nose like a stoat
Who sniffs with joy before he drinks the blood:
And down his mouth comes to my mouth, and down
His dark bright eyes descend like a fiery hood
Upon my mind: his mouth meets mine, and a flood
Of sweet fire sweeps across me, so I drown
Within him, die, and find death good.
Scheme | ABXB CDCD EFGGGGXFFF AAHHIJGGGI JJI KKHH LJMMMML JNJJNJ OOJJPPEEQQOXOARSTRST |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111010 101000101 111110101 11111 1100111111 001110101 10010101 110111 01101 1011010 0111101 11010101 010101001 110011101 110110111 0101011110 101111010 0101011010 01010101 10110101 101010111 1101101 01110101 11010101 01111101 01110101 1101010101 011011101 110111111 01111101 01010101 110101010 111110 11110111 10101011001 01010101 11010101 0111111 110101010 11110101 01010100 11111001 110111111 0111101111 11010111 0101100101 11110111 1111101 111110101111 1001101101 11100101011 0011100111101 11010110101 01011101001 111011100101 111111011101 11011011111 0010111110101 10111111001 11111101111 1101111101 11111011101 1111011101 0111111101 111101101001 01111111001 11101011111 01110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,634 |
Words | 519 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 10, 10, 3, 4, 7, 6, 20 |
Lines Amount | 68 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 232 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:37 min read
- 2 Views
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"Cruelty And Love" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56961/cruelty-and-love>.
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