Analysis of For Ammonis, who died at 29, in 610
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
Raphael, they're asking you to write a few lines
as an epitaph for the poet Ammonis:
something very tasteful and polished. You can do it,
you're the one to write something suitable
for the poet Ammonis, our Ammonis.
Of course you'll speak about his poems-
but say something too about his beauty,
about that subtle beauty we loved.
Your Greek is always elegant and musical.
But we want all your craftsmanship now.
Our sorrow and our love move into a foreign language.
Pour your Egyptian feeling into the Greek you use.
Raphael, your verses, you know, should be written
so they contain something of our life within them,
so the rhythm, so every phrase clearly shows
that an Alexandrian is writing about an Alexandrian.
Scheme | AAXBA XXX BCXX XXXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110111011 111010101 1010100101111 1011110100 10101101 111101110 1110101110 011101011 11111000100 11111101 1010010110101010 1101010010111 01110111110 1101101101011 101011001101 1111100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 709 |
Words | 126 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 3, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 94 Views
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"For Ammonis, who died at 29, in 610" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7141/for-ammonis%2C-who-died-at-29%2C-in-610>.
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