Analysis of Never
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet 1820 (Mtsensk) – 1892 (Moscow)
I wake. Yes, it's a coffin lid.-With effort
I reach my hands out and I call
For help. Yes, I recall the tortures
Of dying.-Yes, this is no dream!-
And without effort, like a spider web
I push aside my casket's rotting wood
And stand. How bright the winter light appears
In the crypt's doorway! Can I doubt it?-
I see the snow. The crypt's without a door.
It's time to head for home. How stunned they'll be!
I know this park, I cannot lose my way.
But oh how different it looks now!
I hurry. Snowdrifts. Frigid boughs
Of dead trees poke deep into the sky,
There are no tracks or sounds. It's still.
The realm of death in an enchanted world.
And here's my home. But what decay!
I'm shocked by this heartbreaking sight.
The village sleeps beneath a snowy blanket,
There is no path in all the boundless steppe.
Yes, there it is: upon a far-off hill
I see the ancient belfry of the church.
A frozen traveler in the whirling snow,
It stands out clear against the cloudless span.
No winter birds or midges dot the snow.
I understand: the earth has long lain chill
And dead. For whom do I conserve
The breath within my chest? To whom did death
Return me? What's my mind
Connected to? And what's its final purpose?
Where shall I go if there is no one to embrace?
And time has lost itself in space?
O, Death, return! And hasten to assume
The fatal burden of this final life.
And you, stiff corpse of earth take flight
And bear my corpse on the eternal path!
Scheme | XXXXXX XXXXAX XXBXAC XXBXDX DBXXXX EEXXCX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101110 11111011 11111010 11011111 0011010101 110111101 0111010101 00111111 1101010101 1111111111 1111110111 111100111 1101101 111110101 11111111 0111010101 01111101 1111101 01010101010 1111010101 1111010111 1101010101 01010000101 1111010101 1101110101 101011111 01111101 0101111111 011111 01010111010 111111111101 01110101 1101010101 0101011101 01111111 0111100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,420 |
Words | 281 |
Sentences | 37 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 185 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 04, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 84 Views
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"Never" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/222/never>.
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