Analysis of Give Your Wish Light

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



By day and night dream about happy death,
Poor dog give your heart room, drag at the chain,
Breathe deep at dawn, wish it were the last breath,
Imagine the leaden ball planted in the brain,
The seed of that superb flower, dream the brave noose
That loves the neck so dearly it lets the life loose,
Dream the fierce joys of war where men like drunken
Jesuses fling the supreme gift at each other,
'Take blessedness, take it deep in your breast, brother . .
Dream on, dream all these joys, life might look shrunken
In lack of dreams. Give your wish light, give it room.
You know you will never untimely attempt the tomb.
Go in to your bride by daylight before the crowd
As if sweet death were a whore? You are too proud.


Scheme ABABCCDEEDFFGG
Poetic Form
Metre 1101101101 1111111101 1111110011 010010110001 011101101011 110111011011 10111111110 1100111110 110011101110 11111111110 01111111111 1111100100101 10111110101 11110011111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 713
Words 137
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 40
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 560
Words per stanza (avg) 137
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

41 sec read
86

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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