Analysis of Subway Wind
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
Far down, down through the city's great, gaunt gut,
The gray train rushing bears the weary wind;
In the packed cars the fans the crowd's breath cut,
Leaving the sick and heavy air behind.
And pale-cheeked children seek the upper door
To give their summer jackets to the breeze;
Their laugh is swallowed in the deafening roar
Of captive wind that moans for fields and seas;
Seas cooling warm where native schooners drift
Through sleepy waters, while gulls wheel and sweep,
Waiting for windy waves the keels to lift
Lightly among the islands of the deep;
Islands of lofty palm trees blooming white
That lend their perfume to the tropic sea,
Where fields lie idle in the dew drenched night,
And the Trades float above them fresh and free.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme |
Metre | 1111010111 0111010101 0011010111 1001010101 0111010101 1111010101 11110001001 1101111101 1101110101 1101011101 1011010111 1001010101 1011011101 1110110101 1111000111 0011011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 743 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 590 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 129 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 193 Views
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"Subway Wind" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6887/subway-wind>.
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