Analysis of Nightmare
Conrad Potter Aiken 1889 (Savannah, Georgia) – 1973 (Savannah, Georgia)
'Draw three cards, and I will tell your future . . .
Draw three cards, and lay them down,
Rest your palms upon them, stare at the crystal,
And think of time . . . My father was a clown,
My mother was a gypsy out of Egypt;
And she was gotten with child in a strange way;
And I was born in a cold eclipse of the moon,
With the future in my eyes as clear as day.'
I sit before the gold-embroidered curtain
And think her face is like a wrinkled desert.
The crystal burns in lamplight beneath my eyes.
A dragon slowly coils on the scaly curtain.
Upon a scarlet cloth a white skull lies.
'Your hand is on the hand that holds three lilies.
You will live long, love many times.
I see a dark girl here who once betrayed you.
I see a shadow of secret crimes.
'There was a man who came intent to kill you,
And hid behind a door and waited for you;
There was a woman who smiled at you and lied.
There was a golden girl who loved you, begged you,
Crawled after you, and died.
'There is a ghost of murder in your blood-
Coming or past, I know not which.
And here is danger-a woman with sea-green eyes,
And white-skinned as a witch . . .'
The words hiss into me, like raindrops falling
On sleepy fire . . . She smiles a meaning smile.
Suspicion eats my brain; I ask a question;
Something is creeping at me, something vile;
And suddenly on the wall behind her head
I see a monstrous shadow strike and spread,
The lamp puffs out, a great blow crashes down.
I plunge through the curtain, run through dark to the street,
And hear swift steps retreat . . .
The shades are drawn, the door is locked behind me.
Behind the door I hear a hammer sounding.
I walk in a cloud of wonder; I am glad.
I mingle among the crowds; my heart is pounding;
You do not guess the adventure I have had! . . .
Yet you, too, all have had your dark adventures,
Your sudden adventures, or strange, or sweet . . .
My peril goes out from me, is blown among you.
We loiter, dreaming together, along the street.
Scheme | XAXAXBXB CXDCD XEFE FFGFG XHDH IJCJ KKALL XIMIM XLFL |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110111110 1110111 11101111010 0111110101 11010101110 01110110011 011100101101 10100111111 11010101010 01011101010 0101010111 01010110110 0101010111 11110111110 11111101 11011111011 11011101 11011101111 01010101011 11010111101 11010111111 110101 1101110011 10111111 011100101111 011101 0110111110 11010110101 01011111010 1011011101 01001010101 110101101 0111011101 111010111101 011101 01110111011 01011101010 11001110111 110010111110 11110010111 11111111010 1100101111 110111111011 110100100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,928 |
Words | 374 |
Sentences | 42 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 5, 4, 5, 4, 4, 5, 5, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 165 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:51 min read
- 127 Views
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"Nightmare" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7025/nightmare>.
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