Analysis of Returns to Render
John Jessup Kennan 1953 (Pomona)
That mighty saber slices wind
Double-edged, it cuts both ways
Tempered in the flames of souls
In fiery spoken word does bathe
From olive leaf, fashion a wreath
For noble deeds, a lofty crown
Leave remnants of your enemies
Ravaged by jackals on the ground
Dictate decrees of the mighty
Rent wretched on a conquered sod
Wash our hands of the bloody mess
What Caesar renders unto God
Indulge the cup of human blood
Trade fatted calves for topsoil stew
Topsoil turned by fatted worms
Indulging in the residue
So lend me now your ears, my friend
If you've any left to lend
This mortal-wounded victim's day
Is bleeding to its end
I'll softly sing for you a song
If I can find a voice to raise
With this sword, I thee do pierce
I come to bury, not to praise
Sword of the mighty spoken Word
Cuts both ways, bone and sinew
To dying Caesars have you rendered
Your creditor now comes for you
And who will give account for you?
Whose double cross is that you carry?
You came not to render praise
You only came to bury
From high upon that mountaintop
Fashioned from skulls of all the least
To the spoils go the victors
The ashes of a glutton's feast
Come join me in my lowly place
If you can hear my voice at all
Above the howling of the mobs
And watch the mighty fall
So lend me now your ears, my friend
If you've any left to lend
This mortal-wounded victim's day
Is bleeding to its end
I'll softly sing for you a song
If I can find a voice to raise
With this sword, I thee do pierce
I come to bury, not to praise
© John Kennan 10-27-20
Scheme | xaxxxbxx cdxdxexe FFGFHAIA jbjeecac xkxkxlxl FFGFHAIA x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 1011111 1000111 010010111 11011001 11010101 11011100 1011101 01011010 11010101 110110101 11010101 01011101 111111 11111 0100010 11111111 1110111 11010101 110111 11011101 11110111 1111111 11110111 11010101 111101 110101110 11001111 01110111 110111110 1111101 1101110 1101110 10111101 1011010 0101011 11101101 11111111 01010101 010101 11111111 1110111 11010101 110111 11011101 11110111 1111111 11110111 110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,481 |
Words | 296 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 1 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 172 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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"Returns to Render" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/100869/returns-to-render>.
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