Analysis of Al Aaraaf
Edgar Allan Poe 1809 (Boston) – 1849 (Baltimore)
O! nothing earthly save the ray
(Thrown back from flowers) of Beauty's eye,
As in those gardens where the day
Springs from the gems of Circassy-
O! nothing earthly save the thrill
Of melody in woodland rill-
Or (music of the passion-hearted)
Joy's voice so peacefully departed
That like the murmur in the shell,
Its echo dwelleth and will dwell-
Oh, nothing of the dross of ours-
Yet all the beauty- all the flowers
That list our Love, and deck our bowers-
Adorn yon world afar, afar-
The wandering star.
'Twas a sweet time for Nesace- for there
Her world lay lolling on the golden air,
Near four bright suns- a temporary rest-
An oasis in desert of the blest.
Away- away- 'mid seas of rays that roll
Empyrean splendor o'er th' unchained soul-
The soul that scarce (the billows are so dense)
Can struggle to its destin'd eminence,-
To distant spheres, from time to time, she rode
And late to ours, the favor'd one of God-
But, now, the ruler of an anchor'd realm,
She throws aside the sceptre- leaves the helm,
And, amid incense and high spiritual hymns,
Laves in quadruple light her angel limbs.
Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth,
Whence sprang the 'Idea of Beauty' into birth,
(Falling in wreaths thro' many a startled star,
Like woman's hair 'mid pearls, until, afar,
It lit on hills Achaian, and there dwelt)
She looked into Infinity- and knelt.
Rich clouds, for canopies, about her curled-
Fit emblems of the model of her world-
Seen but in beauty- not impeding sight
Of other beauty glittering thro' the light-
A wreath that twined each starry form around,
And all the opal'd air in color bound.
All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed
Of flowers: of lilies such as rear'd the head
On the fair Capo Deucato, and sprang
So eagerly around about to hang
Upon the flying footsteps of- deep pride-
Of her who lov'd a mortal- and so died.
The Sephalica, budding with young bees,
Upreared its purple stem around her knees:-
And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'd-
Inmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd
All other loveliness:- its honied dew
(The fabled nectar that the heathen knew)
Deliriously sweet, was dropp'd from Heaven,
And fell on gardens of the unforgiven
In Trebizond- and on a sunny flower
So like its own above that, to this hour,
It still remaineth, torturing the bee
With madness, and unwonted reverie:
In Heaven, and all its environs, the leaf
And blossom of the fairy plant in grief
Disconsolate linger- grief that hangs her head,
Repenting follies that full long have Red,
Heaving her white breast to the balmy air,
Like guilty beauty, chasten'd and more fair:
Nyctanthes too, as sacred as the light
She fears to perfume, perfuming the night:
And Clytia, pondering between many a sun,
While pettish tears adown her petals run:
And that aspiring flower that sprang on Earth,
And died, ere scarce exalted into birth,
Bursting its odorous heart in spirit to wing
Its way to Heaven, from garden of a king:
And Valisnerian lotus, thither flown'
From struggling with the waters of the Rhone:
And thy most lovely purple perfume, Zante!
Isola d'oro!- Fior di Levante!
And the Nelumbo bud that floats for ever
With Indian Cupid down the holy river-
Fair flowers, and fairy! to whose care is given
To bear the Goddess' song, in odors, up to Heaven:
'Spirit! that dwellest where,
In the deep sky,
The terrible and fair,
In beauty vie!
Beyond the line of blue-
The boundary of the star
Which turneth at the view
Of thy barrier and thy bar-
Of the barrier overgone
By the comets who were cast
From their pride and from their throne
To be drudges till the last-
To be carriers of fire
(The red fire of their heart)
With speed that may not tire
And with pain that shall not part-
Who livest- that we know-
In Eternity- we feel-
But th
Scheme | ABACDDEEFFCCCGG HHIIJJCCXXKKCC LLGGMMNNOOPP QQRRSSCCEXTTUUVVWWXXQQHHOOUULLYYZZEEVVUU HBHBTGTGU1 Z1 V2 V2 XXX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 11110111 10110101 110111 11010101 1100011 110101010 111100010 11010001 1101011 110101110 110101010 11101011010 01110101 01001 10111111 0111010101 111101001 1010010101 0101111111 110101111 0111010111 1101110100 1101111111 01110010111 1101011101 1101010101 001010110001 1001010101 1100101101 110010110011 10011100101 1101110101 11111011 1101010001 11110101 1101010101 1101010101 11010100101 0111110101 010110101 1100110101 11011011101 10110101 1100010111 010101111 1011010011 0110111 111010101 0110111 111011111 1101111 0101010101 1111110 0111010010 010101010 11110111110 11110001 11001100 01001101001 0101010101 11011101 0101011111 1001110101 1101010011 11110101 1110101001 01100011001 11110101 01010101111 0111010011 101100101011 11110110101 011011 11001010101 0111010011 010110111 001111110 110010101010 110010111110 1101010101110 10111 0011 010001 0101 010111 0100101 11101 11100011 101001 1010101 1110111 111101 11100110 0110111 1111110 0111111 11111 0010011 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,370 |
Words | 675 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 15, 14, 12, 40, 19 |
Lines Amount | 100 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 584 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 134 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 3:27 min read
- 172 Views
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"Al Aaraaf" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8427/al-aaraaf>.
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