Analysis of A Song Of The Degrees

Ezra Pound 1885 (Hailey) – 1972 (Venice)



I
Rest me with Chinese colours,
For I think the glass is evil.

II
The wind moves above the wheat-
With a silver crashing,
A thin war of metal.

I have known the golden disc,
I have seen it melting above me.
I have known the stone-bright place,
The hall of clear colours.

III
O glass subtly evil, O confusion of colours !
O light bound and bent in, soul of the captive,
Why am I warned? Why am I sent away?
Why is your glitter full of curious mistrust?
O glass subtle and cunning, O powdery gold!
O filaments of amber, two-faced iridescence!


Scheme ABC AXXC XXBB ABXXXXB
Poetic Form
Metre 1 111011 11101110 1 0110101 101010 011110 1110101 111110011 1110111 01111 1 1110010101011 11101011010 1111111101 111101110001 111001011001 1100110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 530
Words 105
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 4, 7
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 104
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

31 sec read
371

Ezra Pound

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic of the early modernist movement. more…

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    The repetition of similar sounds at the ends of words or within words is known as _______.
    A stanza
    B rhyme
    C rhythm
    D imagery