Analysis of Satiemus

Ezra Pound 1885 (Hailey) – 1972 (Venice)



What if I know thy speeches word by word?
And if thou knew'st I knew them wouldst thou speak?
What if I know thy speeches word by word,
And all the time thou sayest them o'er I said,
'Lo, one there was who bent her fair bright head,
Sighing as thou dost through the golden speech.'
Or, as our laughters mingle each with each,
As crushed lips take their respite fitfully,
What if my thoughts were turned in their mid reach
Whispering among them, 'The fair dead
Must know such moments, thinking on the grass;
On how white dogwoods murmured overhead
In the bright glad days!'
How if the low dear sound within thy throat
Hath as faint lute-strings in its dim accord
Dim tales that blind me, running one by one
With times told over as we tell by rote;
What if I know thy laughter word by word
Nor find aught novel in thy merriment ?


Scheme AbAccddedcfcghijhaa
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110111 01111111111 1111110111 01011111011 1111110111 1011110101 1110110111 1111110100 1111010111 100011011 1111010101 111110101 00111 1101110111 1111101101 1111110111 1111011111 1111110111 11110011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 817
Words 161
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 19
Lines Amount 19
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 646
Words per stanza (avg) 158
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 17, 2023

48 sec read
106

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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