Analysis of The Dance Of Life
Conrad Potter Aiken 1889 (Savannah, Georgia) – 1973 (Savannah, Georgia)
Gracious and lovable and sweet,
She made his jaded pulses beat,
And made the glare of streets grow dim
And life more soft and hushed for him….
Over her shoulder now she smiled
Trustfully to him, like a child,
The while her fingers gayly moved
Alonge these white keys dearly loved,
Making them laugh a jocund measure,
Making them show and sing her pleasure….
A smile that dwelt upon his eyes,
To see what mood might therein rise,-
What point of soft light seen afar
Which might dilate to moon or star….
A smile that for a second space
Brooded wistfully on her face,
Opening soft her spirit's door,
Disclosing depths undreamed before:
Passionate depths of half-seen flame,
Young loveliness despising shame,
Desire that trembled to meet desire,
And fire that yearned to fuse with fire….
And lightly then she turned away,
Ironic music rippled gay,-
Subtle sarcastic flippancies
Disguising speechless ecstasies…
'Play something else…' He rose to turn
The pages, while the deep nocturne
Struck slow rich chords of plangent pain,
Beautiful, into heart and brain;
A tortured, anguished, suffering thing
That seemed at once to cry and sing;
Despairing love that strove to find
The face beloved with fingers blind.
He saw her body's slender grace,
This drooping shoulder, shadowed face;
All of her body, hidden so
In saffron satin's flush and flow,-
Its white and simple loveliness,-
Came on his heart like giddiness,
Seductive as this music came;
Until her body seemed like flame,-
Intense white flame, so swiftly moving
That it gave scarcely time for loving;
But rapid as the sun she seemed,
A blinding light that flowed and streamed
And sang and shone through roaring space….
The sun itself! for now her face,
Wherein this music's whole soul dwelt,
Drew him like helpless star, he felt
A fierce compulsion, reckless, mad,
A sweet compulsion, troubled, glad,
His trembling hands went out to her,
Her cool flesh made his senses blur;
While, head thrown backward, sinking dim,
She opened wide her soul to him….
Past his life went whirls of lights,
Chaos of music, days and nights,
Her wild eyes yearned to lure him in
And close him up in dark of sin,
To lure him in and drink him down
And all his soul in love to drown….
Her nakedness he seemed to see.
And breast to breast, and knee to knee,
Tremulous, breathless, swaying, burning,
Body to beautiful body yearning,
In joy and terror, flesh to flesh,
They flamed in passion's fine red mesh,-
Living in one short breath again
The cosmic tide's whole bliss and pain,
Darkness and ether, nebulous fire,
Vast suns whirled forth by vast desire,
Huge moons flung out with monstrous mirth
And stars in glorious hells of birth,
All jubilating, blazing, reeling,
An orgiastic splendor wheeling,
Moon torn from earth and star from sun
In screaming pain, titanic fun,
And stars whirled back to sun again
To be consumed in flaming pain!…
In them at last all life was met:
They were God's self! This earth had set.
Mad fires of life sang through their veins,
Ruinous blisses, joyous pains,
Life the destroyer, life the breaker,
And death, the everlasting maker….
Scheme | AABBCCDEFFGGHHIIJJKKFFLLGGMMNNOOPPIIQQGGKKOORRIISSTTFFBBUUVVWWXXOOYYZNFF1 1 OO2 2 ZN3 3 4 4 FF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10010001 11110101 01011111 01110111 10010111 111101 0101011 10111101 10110110 101101010 01110111 11111011 11111101 11011111 01110101 10100101 10010101 01010101 10011111 110101 01011011010 0101111110 01011101 01010101 100101 010101 11011111 0101011 1111111 10001101 010101001 11111101 01011111 01011101 11010101 11010101 11010101 0101101 110101 111111 01011101 01010111 011111010 111101110 11010111 01011101 01011101 01011101 01110111 11110111 01010101 01010101 110011110 01111101 11110101 11010111 1111111 10110101 01111110 01110111 11100111 01110111 011111 01110111 100101010 1011001010 01010111 1101111 10011101 01011101 1001010010 111111010 11111101 010100111 111010 111010 11110111 01010101 01111101 11010101 01111111 10111111 110111111 1001101 100101010 01001010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,035 |
Words | 541 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 86 |
Lines Amount | 86 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 2,437 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 532 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:44 min read
- 55 Views
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"The Dance Of Life" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7043/the-dance-of-life>.
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