Analysis of A Grave
Edith Wharton 1862 (New York City) – 1937 (Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt)
Though life should come
With all its marshalled honours, trump and drum,
To proffer you the captaincy of some
Resounding exploit, that shall fill
Man’s pulses with commemorative thrill,
And be a banner to far battle days
For truths unrisen upon untrod ways,
What would your answer be,
O heart once brave?
Seek otherwhere; for me,
I watch beside a grave.
Though to some shining festival of thought
The sages call you from steep citadel
Of bastioned argument, whose rampart gained
Yields the pure vision passionately sought,
In dreams known well,
But never yet in wakefulness attained,
How should you answer to their summons, save:
I watch beside a grave?
Though Beauty, from her fane within the soul
Of fire-tongued seers descending,
Or from the dream-lit temples of the past
With feet immortal wending,
Illuminate grief’s antre swart and vast
With half-veiled face that promises the whole
To him who holds her fast,
What answer could you give?
Sight of one face I crave,
One only while I live;
Woo elsewhere; for I watch beside a grave.
Though love of the one heart that loves you best,
A storm-tossed messenger,
Should beat its wings for shelter in your breast,
Where clung its last year’s nest,
The nest you built together and made fast
Lest envious winds should stir,
And winged each delicate thought to minister
With sweetness far-amassed
To the young dreams within—
What answer could it win?
The nest was whelmed in sorrow’s rising wave,
Nor could I reach one drowning dream to save;
I watch beside a grave.
Scheme | aaabbccdedE fghfgheE ijkjkikxexe lmllkmmknneeE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 111101101 11010111 0101111 110101001 0101011101 1110111 111101 1111 1111 110101 1111010011 010111110 11100111 1011010001 0111 11010101 1111011101 110101 1101010101 11011010 1101110101 1101010 010011101 1111110001 111101 110111 111111 110111 111110101 1110111111 011100 1111110011 111111 0111010011 1100111 01110011100 110101 101101 110111 0111010101 1111110111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,488 |
Words | 262 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 8, 11, 13 |
Lines Amount | 43 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 302 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 39 Views
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"A Grave" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9063/a-grave>.
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