Analysis of Two Young Men, 23 to 24 years old
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
He'd been sitting in the cafe since ten-thirty
expecting him to turn up any minute.
Midnight had gone, and he was still waiting for him.
It was now after one-thirty, and the cafe was almost deserted.
He'd grown tired of reading newspapers
mechanically. Of his three lonely shillings
only one was left: waiting that long,
he'd spent the others on coffees and brandy.
And he'd smoked all his cigarettes.
So much waiting had worn him out.
Because alone like that for so many hours,
he'd also begun to have disturbing thoughts
about the immoral life he was living.
But when he saw his friend come in
weariness, boredom, thought all disappeared at once.
His friend brought unexpected news.
He'd won sixty pounds playing cards.
Their good looks, their exquisite youthfulness,
the sensitive love they shared
were refreshed, livened, invigorated
by the sixty pounds from the card table.
Now all joy and vitality, feeling and charm,
they went -not to the homes of their respectable families
(where they were no longer wanted anyway)-
they went to a familiar and very special
house of debauchery, and they asked for a bedroom
and expensive drinks, and they drank again.
And when the expensive drinks were finished
and it was close to four in the morning,
happy, they gave themselves to love.
Scheme | ABCDEFGAHIEJKLMNOEPDQRSTQUVWKX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111000011110 01011111010 11101111011 11110110000111010 111011010 01001111010 101111011 11010110010 0111101 11101111 010111111010 11001110101 01001011110 11111110 10010110111 1110101 11101101 11111001 0100111 001100100 1010110110 111001001001 111101110100100 1101101010 111001001010 110100011101 0010101101 0100101010 0111110010 10110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,261 |
Words | 220 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,021 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 218 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 101 Views
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"Two Young Men, 23 to 24 years old" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7277/two-young-men%2C-23-to-24-years-old>.
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