Analysis of A Culture Vanished
The city streets abandoned lie,
Their stony paths untrod;
The houses sit forgotten by
As vultures wheel above.
Forsaken is this ancient town
That once was filled with life;
Where merchants had traversed abroad,
Where shone the summer’s light.
But winter came, and warmth did flee
The homes within this place.
The children singing merrily
Lay buried in the grave.
For rather than prepare for cold
The people still would play,
Stop up their ears from warnings told,
And waste away their days.
So when at last the snow did fall
And blizzards howling came,
The townsmen did forsake their halls
To flee the storms in vain.
Alas! they swiftly met their end
‘Ere warmer climes they found:
In hunger’s pangs they named the dead
Laid in the rocky ground.
Their city now is wolves’ abode,
The haven of the stork.
The people heeded not sound word,
But did refuse to work.
Thus, generations ended swift,
An ancient line did die;
For rather than perfect their gift
They fallow let it lie.
Scheme | ABAX XXBB CXCX BXBX XXXX BBBB BXBX BABA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (25%) |
Metre | 01010101 11011 01010101 110101 01011101 111111 11011001 110101 11010111 010111 01010100 110001 11010111 010111 11111101 010111 11110111 010101 0110111 110101 01110111 110111 0111101 100101 11011101 010101 01010111 110111 1010101 110111 11010111 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,000 |
Words | 203 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
About this poem
This poem is a musing upon how the mindset of a civilization may determine its fate.
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Written on June 19, 2020
Submitted by Dirhaval on January 09, 2022
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 86 Views
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"A Culture Vanished" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/119341/a-culture-vanished>.
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