Analysis of Night Litany
Ezra Pound 1885 (Hailey) – 1972 (Venice)
O Dieu, purifiez nos cceurs!
Purifiez nos coeurs !
Yea the lines hast thou laid unto me
in pleasant places,
And the beauty of this thy Venice
hast thou shown unto me
Until is its loveliness become unto me
a thing of tears.
O God, what great kindness
have we done in times past
and forgotten it,
That thou givest this wonder unto us,
O God of waters?
O God of the night,
What great sorrow
Cometh unto us,
That thou thus repayest us
Before the time of its coming?
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cœurs,
Purifiez nos cœurs,
For we have seen
The glory of the shadow of the
likeness of thine handmaid,
Yea, the glory of the shadow
of thy Beauty hath walked
Upon the shadow of the waters
In this thy Venice.
And before the holiness
Of the shadow of thy handmaid
Have I hidden mine eyes,
O God of waters.
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cœurs,
Purifiez nos cœurs,
O God of waters,
make clean our hearts within us,
For I have seen the
Shadow of this thy Venice
Floating upon the waters,
And thy stars
Have seen this thing, out of their far courses
Have they seen this thing,
O God of waters,
Even as are thy stars
Silent unto us in their far-coursing,
Even so is mine heart
become silent within me.
Purifiez nos cœurs,
O God of the silence,
Purifiez nos cœurs,
O God of waters.
Scheme | aa baabba acxaA xdaae AAAxfc dxaaacaA AAAAafaaa aeAaexb AaAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111 111 101111101 01010 001011110 111101 0111101101 0111 111110 111011 00101 111110101 11110 11101 1110 10101 11111 01011110 11110 1111 1111 1111 01010110 10111 1010101 111011 01011010 01110 0010100 101111 111011 11110 11110 1111 1111 11110 11101011 11110 111110 1001010 011 1111111110 11111 11110 101111 1010101110 101111 0110011 1111 111010 1111 11110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,230 |
Words | 246 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 6, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 7, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 04, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 344 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Night Litany" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13307/night-litany>.
Discuss this Ezra Pound poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In