Analysis of Dead Cleopatra
Conrad Potter Aiken 1889 (Savannah, Georgia) – 1973 (Savannah, Georgia)
Dead Cleopatra lies in a crystal casket,
Wrapped and spiced by the cunningest of hands.
Around her neck they have put a golden necklace
Her tatbebs, it is said, are worn with sands.
Dead Cleopatra was once revered in Egypt—
Warm-eyed she was, this princess of the south.
Now she is very old and dry and faded,
With black bitumen they have sealed up her mouth.
Grave-robbers pulled the gold rings from her fingers,
Despite the holy symbols across her breast;
They scared the bats that quietly whirled above her.
Poor lady! she would have been long since at rest
If she had not been wrapped and spiced so shrewdly,
Preserved, obscene, to mock black flights of years.
What would her lover have said, had he foreseen it?
Had he been moved to ecstasy, or tears?
O sweet clean earth from whom the green blade cometh!—
When we are dead, my best-beloved and I,
Close well above us that we may rest forever,
Sending up grass and blossoms to the sky.
Scheme | XAXA XBXB XCDC XXXX XEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 10101001010 10110111 010111101010 011111111 10101101010 1111110101 11110101010 1110111101 11010111010 01010100101 110111001010 11011111111 11111101110 0101111111 11010111111 1111110011 11111101110 1111110101 110111111010 1011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 952 |
Words | 174 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 148 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 92 Views
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