Analysis of Thomas Trevelyan
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
Reading in Ovid the sorrowful story of Itys,
Son of the love of Tereus and Procne, slain
For the guilty passion of Tereus for Philomela,
The flesh of him served to Tereus by Procne,
And the wrath of Tereus, the murderess pursuing
Till the gods made Philomela a nightingale,
Lute of the rising moon, and Procne a swallow!
Oh livers and artists of Hellas centuries gone,
Sealing in little thuribles dreams and wisdom,
Incense beyond all price, forever fragrant,
A breath whereof makes clear the eyes of the soul!
How I inhaled its sweetness here in Spoon River!
The thurible opening when I had lived and learned
How all of us kill the children of love, and all of us,
Knowing not what we do, devour their flesh;
And all of us change to singers, although it be
But once in our lives, or change -- alas! -- to swallows,
To twitter amid cold winds and falling leaves!
Scheme | ABCBDEFGHIJKLAMNAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100101001011 110111011 101010111010 011111111 0011101010 10110100100 11010101010 110010111001 1001011010 01011101010 0111101101 110111010110 01100111101 11111010110111 10111101011 01111110111 1101011101110 11001110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 853 |
Words | 160 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 18 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 678 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 158 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 34 Views
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