Analysis of Anhelli - Chapter 1
Juliusz Slowacki 1809 (Kremenets ) – 1849 (Paris)
Exiles came to the land of Siberia, and having chosen a broad site they built a
wooden house that they might dwell together in concord and brotherly love; and
there were of them about a thousand men of various stations in life.
And the government had provided women for them that they might marry,
because their sentence made known that they were sent to people the country.
For a time there was among them great order and great sorrow,
for they could not forget that they were exiles
and that they should see their fatherland no more-unless God should will it.
And when they had already built the house and each one had taken up his own work,
except the people who desired to be called wise men, who remained in idleness, saying:
'Lo, we ponder on the salvation of the fatherland,' they beheld upon a time a great flock
of black birds flying from the north.
After the birds there appeared a sort of train and caravan,
and sledges harnessed with dogs, and a herd of reindeer with branching horns,
and men on skis bearing spears : it was the whole Siberian people.
At their head, moreover, walked the king of the people, who was at the same time a priest,
dressed according to their custom in furs and in corals,
and he wore a wreath of dead serpents instead of a crown.
Then that ruler, drawing near to the throng of exiles,
said in the language of their own land : 'Hail !
'Behold I have known your fathers who were also unfortunate,
and I have seen how they lived in the fear of God and died, saying `Fatherland ! Fatherland !'
'Therefore do I wish to be your friend and to make a covenant
between you and my people, that ye may be in an hospitable land
and in a country of well-wishers.
'And of your fathers now is none living except one only, who is already old
and who is well-inclined toward me ;
but he dwelleth far hence in a lonely hut.
'If ye desire that the friend of your fathers be your leader,
I will abide with you and forsake my own people;
for ye are the more unfortunate.'
Yet more that old man said, and they showed
him reverence and invited him to their tabernacle.
And they made a covenant with the people of Siberia,
who departed and settled in their snowy villages ;
but their king remained with the exiles that he might comfort them.
And they marvelled at his wisdom, saying
'Lo, this he hath surely gotten from our fathers,
and his words are from our ancestors.'
And they called him Shaman, for so the people of Siberia
call their kings and priests, who are wizards.
Scheme | AXX BB XCX XDXX XXE XXX CX FG XGH XBF XEF XE AXX DHH AX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111011010001010011110 101111101001010010 101101010111001001 001001010101111110 01110111101110010 101110111100110 1111011101 0111111011011111 01110101010111101111 01010101011111101010010 11101001010101110101011 11110101 10011010111010 011011001111101 01111011101010010 111010101101011101101 10101110010010 01101111001101 111010110111 1001011111 0111111010100100 0111111001110110110 111111110110100 011011011110111001 000101110 011101111001110110101 011101011 1111100101 1101010111101110 1101110011110 111010100 111111011 11000010111100 0110100101010100 10100100110100 11101101111101 011111010 1111101011010 011111010 0111101101010100 111011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 2,476 |
Words | 464 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 48 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 131 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:18 min read
- 66 Views
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"Anhelli - Chapter 1" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24749/anhelli---chapter-1>.
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