Analysis of A Poem for Israel
The dry desert wind gusts were warm across
my face, but then--
it felt as if you were exhaling,
out of exhaustion from anticipation.
The next day all the streets grew quiet.
Jerusalem turned white, then gold as the sun set.
No cars, no phones, no noise at all, Shabat Shalom.
I heard a ram's horn in the distance and you
silenced me with your very presence there.
Why did the guide have to tell such torrid
stories the next day at the top of Masada.
Hidden, like school children, behind a stone
wall, on top of a cool cistern in the
blazing hot midday sun, he whispered.
And why was I so quiet when he told me
things, secrets, about Israeli men and women?
I liked Tiberias best.
Scheme | XXXA BXXXX XBXXXXA X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0110110101 1111 1111101 1101010010 011101110 010011111011 11111111101 11011001001 1011110101 1101111110 1001110111 1011100101 1111011000 10111110 01111101111 110010101010 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 662 |
Words | 129 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 5, 7, 1 |
Lines Amount | 17 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 132 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 16 Views
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"A Poem for Israel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/64668/a-poem-for-israel>.
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