Analysis of De Ægypto

Ezra Pound 1885 (Hailey) – 1972 (Venice)



I even I, am he who knoweth the roads
Through the sky, and the wind thereof is my body.

I have beheld the Lady of Life,
I, even I, who fly with the swallows.

Green and gray is her raiment,
Trailing along the wind.

I, even I, am he who knoweth the roads
Through the sky, and the wind thereof is my body.

Manus animam pinxit,
My pen is in my hand

To write the acceptable word. . . .
My mouth to chant the pure singing!

Who hath the mouth to receive it,
The song of the Lotus of Kumi?

I, even I, am he who knoweth the roads
Through the sky, and the wind thereof is my body.

I am flame that riseth in the sun,
I, even I, who fly with the swallows.

The moon is upon my forehead,
The winds are under my lips.

The moon is a great pearl in the waters of sapphire,
Cool to my fingers the flowing waters.

I, even I, am he who knoweth the roads
Through the sky, and the wind thereof is my body.


Scheme AB xC bx AB bx xx xx AB xC xx xx AB
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111101 10100111110 11101011 1101111010 101101 100101 1101111101 10100111110 1011 111011 11001001 11110110 11011011 01101011 1101111101 10100111110 11111001 1101111010 01101110 0111011 01101100101100 1111001010 1101111101 10100111110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 868
Words 184
Sentences 16
Stanzas 12
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 55
Words per stanza (avg) 15
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

55 sec read
160

Ezra Pound

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

All Ezra Pound poems | Ezra Pound Books

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    Repeated use of words for effect and emphasis is called ________.
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