Analysis of Two Backgrounds
Edith Wharton 1862 (New York City) – 1937 (Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt)
I. LA VIERGE AU DONATEUR
HERE by the ample river's argent sweep,
Bosomed in tilth and vintage to her walls,
A tower-crowned Cybele in armoured sleep
The city lies, fat plenty in her halls,
With calm parochial spires that hold in fee
The friendly gables clustered at their base,
And, equipoised o'er tower and market-place,
The Gothic minister's winged immensity;
And in that narrow burgh, with equal mood,
Two placid hearts, to all life's good resigned,
Might, from the altar to the lych-gate, find
Long years of peace and dreamless plenitude.
II. MONA LISA
Yon strange blue city crowns a scarped steep
No mortal foot hath bloodlessly essayed:
Dreams and illusions beacon from its keep.
But at the gate an Angel bares his blade;
And tales are told of those who thought to gain
At dawn its ramparts; but when evening fell
Far off they saw each fading pinnacle
Lit with wild lightnings from the heaven of pain;
Yet there two souls, whom life's perversities
Had mocked with want in plenty, tears in mirth,
Might meet in dreams, ungarmented of earth,
And drain Joy's awful chalice to the lees.
Scheme | XABABXCCDDDDD XADADEXXEBFFX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111 1101010101 101010101 01011011 0101110001 11010011101 0101010111 0110100101 01010011 0011011101 1101111101 1101010111 1111011 11010 111101011 1101111 1001010111 1101110111 0111111111 111111101 1111110100 11110101011 1111111 1111010101 1101111 0111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,072 |
Words | 191 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 13 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 432 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 95 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 59 sec read
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