Analysis of Two Sonnets In Memory
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
(Nicola Sacco -- Bartolomeo Vanzetti)
Executed August 23, 1927
As men have loved their lovers in times past
And sung their wit, their virtue and their grace,
So have we loved sweet Justice to the last,
That now lies here in an unseemly place.
The child will quit the cradle and grow wise
And stare on beauty till his senses drown;
Yet shall be seen no more by mortal eyes
Such beauty as here walked and here went down.
Like birds that hear the winter crying plain
Her courtiers leave to seek the clement south;
Many have praised her, we alone remain
To break a fist against the lying mouth
Of any man who says this was not so:
Though she be dead now, as indeed we know.
Where can the heart be hidden in the ground
And be at peace, and be at peace forever,
Under the world, untroubled by the sound
Of mortal tears, that cease from pouring never?
Well for the heart, by stern compassion harried,
If death be deeper than the churchmen say, --
Gone from this world indeed what's graveward carried,
And laid to rest indeed what's laid away.
Anguish enough while yet the indignant breather
Have blood to spurt upon the oppressor's hand;
Who would eternal be, and hang in ether
A stuffless ghost above his struggling land,
Retching in vain to render up the groan
That is not there, being aching dust's alone?
Scheme | AA ABABCDCDEFEFGG AHAHAIAIHAHAJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01010000101 10010 1111110011 0111110011 1111110101 1111010101 0111010011 0111011101 1111111101 1101110111 1111010101 01001110101 1011010101 1101010101 1101111111 1111110111 1101110001 01110111010 1001010101 11011111010 11011101010 1111010101 1111011110 0111011101 100111001010 111101011 11010101010 0110111001 101110101 11111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,285 |
Words | 244 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 342 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 80 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 59 Views
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