Analysis of Memorial
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
Your body was a sacred cell always,
A jewel that grew dull in garish light,
An opal which beneath my wondering gaze
Gleamed rarely, softly throbbing in the night.
I touched your flesh with reverential hands,
For you were sweet and timid like a flower
That blossoms out of barren tropic sands,
Shedding its perfume in one golden hour.
You yielded to my touch with gentle grace,
And though my passion was a mighty wave
That buried you beneath its strong embrace,
You were yet happy in the moment's grave.
Still more than passion consummate to me,
More than the nuptials immemorial sung,
Was the warm thrill that melted me to see
Your clean brown body, beautiful and young;
The joy in your maturity at length,
The peace that filled my soul like cooling wine,
When you responded to my tender strength,
And pressed your heart exulting into mine.
How shall I with such memories of you
In coarser forms of love fruition find?
No, I would rather like a ghost pursue
The fairy phantoms of my lonely mind.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme Quatrain |
Metre | 110101011 0101110101 11010111001 1101010001 111110101 11010101010 1101110101 10101011010 1101111101 0111010101 1101011101 1011000101 1111010011 110101001 1011110111 1111010001 0101010011 0111111101 1101011101 0111010011 1111110011 0101110101 1111010101 0101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,003 |
Words | 181 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 24, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 119 Views
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"Memorial" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6870/memorial>.
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