Analysis of I Know My Soul
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
I plucked my soul out of its secret place,
And held it to the mirror of my eye,
To see it like a star against the sky,
A twitching body quivering in space,
A spark of passion shining on my face.
And I explored it to determine why
This awful key to my infinity
Conspires to rob me of sweet joy and grace.
And if the sign may not be fully read,
If I can comprehend but not control,
I need not gloom my days with futile dread,
Because I see a part and not the whole.
Contemplating the strange, I'm comforted
By this narcotic thought: I know my soul.
Scheme | ABBAABCADEDEFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111101 0111010111 1111010101 0101010001 0111010111 0101110101 1101110100 111111101 0101111101 111011101 1111111101 0111010101 100011100 1101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 554 |
Words | 112 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 423 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 173 Views
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