Analysis of Picture of a 23-year-old Youth Painted by His Friend of the Same Age, an Amature

Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)



He finished the painting yesterday noon. Now
he studies it in detail. He has painted him in a
gray unbuttoned coat, a deep gray; without
any vest or any tie. With a rose-colored shirt;
open at the collar, so something might be seen
also of the beauty of his chest, of his neck.
The right temple is almost entirely
covered by his hair, his beautiful hair
(parted in the manner he perfers it this year).
There is the completely voluptuous tone
he wanted to put into it when he was doing the eyes,
when he was doing the lips.... His mouth, the lips
that are made for consummation, for choice love-making.


Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLM
Poetic Form
Metre 1100101011 11010011110100 1010101101 1011101101101 101010110111 101010111111 0110110100 1011111001 10001011111 11001001001 110110111111001 11110011101 111101011110
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 597
Words 113
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 13
Lines Amount 13
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 468
Words per stanza (avg) 111
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
53

Constantine P. Cavafy

Constantine P. Cavafy was a Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant. He published 154 poems; dozens more remained incomplete or in sketch form. His most important poetry was written after his fortieth birthday. more…

All Constantine P. Cavafy poems | Constantine P. Cavafy Books

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    "Picture of a 23-year-old Youth Painted by His Friend of the Same Age, an Amature" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7215/picture-of-a-23-year-old-youth-painted-by-his-friend-of-the-same-age%2C-an-amature>.

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