Analysis of A Dream Lies Dead
Dorothy Parker 1893 (Long Branch) – 1967 (New York City)
A dream lies dead here. May you softly go
Before this place, and turn away your eyes,
Nor seek to know the look of that which dies
Importuning Life for life. Walk not in woe,
But, for a little, let your step be slow.
And, of your mercy, be not sweetly wise
With words of hope and Spring and tenderer skies.
A dream lies dead; and this all mourners know:
Whenever one drifted petal leaves the tree-
Though white of bloom as it had been before
And proudly waitful of fecundity-
One little loveliness can be no more;
And so must Beauty bow her imperfect head
Because a dream has joined the wistful dead!
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDCDEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Petrarchan sonnet |
Metre | 0111111101 0111010111 1111011111 11111101 1101011111 0111011101 111101011 0111011101 01011010101 1111111101 010110100 11011111 01110100101 0101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 608 |
Words | 116 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 235 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 159 Views
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"A Dream Lies Dead" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8109/a-dream-lies-dead>.
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