Analysis of Sleep
Isaac Rosenberg 1890 (Bristol) – 1918 (Somme)
Godhead's lip hangs
When our pulses have no golden tremors,
And his whips are flicked by mice
And all star-amorous things.
Drops, drops of shivering quiet
Filter under my lids.
Now only am I powerful.
What though the cunning gods outwit us here
In daytime and in playtime,
Surely they feel the gyres we lay on them
In our sleep.
0, subtle gods lying hidden!
0, gods with your oblique eyes !
Your elbows in the dawn, and wrists
Bright with the afternoon,
1)o you not shake when a mortal slides
Into your own unvexed peace ?
When a moving stillness breaks over your knees
(An emanation of piled (eons' pressures),
From our bodies flat and straight,
And your limbs are locked,
Futilely gods',
And shut your sinister essences
Scheme | ABXX XXXXCCX XXXXXX XBXXXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111 11010111010 0111111 0111001 11110010 101011 11011100 110101111 01001 1011011111 0101 1011010 111011 1100101 11001 111110101 011111 10101011011 1010111010 11010101 01111 11 0111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 707 |
Words | 129 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 7, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 23 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 142 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 126 Views
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"Sleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19395/sleep>.
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