Analysis of A Prince from Western Libya
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
Aristomenis, son of Menelaos,
the Prince from Western Libya,
was generally liked in Alexandria
during the ten days he spent there.
As his name, his dress, modest, was also Greek.
He received honors gladly,
but he did not solicit them; he was unassuming.
He bought Greek books,
especially history and philosophy.
Above all he was a man of few words.
It got around that he must be a profound thinker,
and men like that naturally don't speak very much.
He was neither a profound thinker nor anything else—
just a piddling, laughable man.
He assumed a Greek name, dressed like the Greeks,
learned to behave more or less like a Greek;
and all the time he was terrified he would spoil
his reasonably good image
by coming out with barbaric howlers in Greek
and the Alexandrians, in their usual way,
would make fun of him, vile people that they are.
This was why he limited himself to a few words,
terribly careful of his syntax and pronunciation;
and he was driven almost out of his mind, having
so much talk bottled up inside him.
Scheme | ABBXCDEADAXX AXACXXCXX AXEX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111 01110100 11000100100 10011111 11111101101 1011010 1111010111010 1111 01010000100 0111101111 1101111100110 0111100011101 1110001101101 101001001 1010111101 1101111101 01011110111 11000110 11011010101 001011001 11111110111 1111100011011 1001011100010 011101111110 111101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,012 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 9, 4 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 270 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 61 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 155 Views
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"A Prince from Western Libya" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7102/a-prince-from-western-libya>.
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