Analysis of An Expostulation
Clive Staples Lewis 1898 (Clive Staples Lewis Belfast) – 1963 (Oxford)
Against too many writers of science fiction
Why did you lure us on like this,
Light-year on light-year, through the abyss,
Building (as though we cared for size!)
Empires that cover galaxies
If at the journey's end we find
The same old stuff we left behind,
Well-worn Tellurian stories of
Crooks, spies, conspirators, or love,
Whose setting might as well have been
The Bronx, Montmartre, or Bedinal Green?
Why should I leave this green-floored cell,
Roofed with blue air, in which we dwell,
Unless, outside its guarded gates,
Long, long desired, the Unearthly waits
Strangeness that moves us more than fear,
Beauty that stabs with tingling spear,
Or Wonder, laying on one's heart
That finger-tip at which we start
As if some thought too swift and shy
For reason's grasp had just gone by?
Scheme | X AAXXBBCCXX DDEEFFGGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011101011010 11111111 111111001 10111111 100110100 1101111 01111101 111101 11010011 11011111 0110111 11111111 11110111 01111101 1101000101 10111111 101111001 11010111 11011111 11111101 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 793 |
Words | 137 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 207 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 83 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"An Expostulation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6927/an-expostulation>.
Discuss this Clive Staples Lewis poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In