Analysis of Exile
Alice Duer Miller 1874 (New York) – 1942 (New York)
At dead of night about the dying fire
They told a story how the dead appear;
And men, grown still with fear,
Forgot their old desire
For those who once were dear,
And shook and trembled lest their dead be near.
Alas, poor dead who were so sweet and human!
How are you grown a menace and a blight
A thing to shun, a thing of evil omen,
Stealing unwelcome through the halls of night?,
Who knows? perhaps yourselves are much affrighted,
And struggle back, remote and bodiless,
Fearful of sounds unheard, visions unsighted,
Black echoes, and the bitter loneliness.
But for me, in my heart is no dread
Of the coming again of the dead,
But a terror of life, without one
Who made life to be life - and is gone.
Yes, at these tales of how the dead return,
Hope stirs within my spirit more than fear.
So strange, so strange it seems, you are not here,
And so unnatural to me 'tis to learn
The trick of life without you, year by year,
That not so strange could any specter be
Or fall of footsteps on the empty stair,
Or shapes discerned upon the shadowy air,
As is this haunting sense of vacancy,
And your persisting absence everywhere.
Ah, could I see, as in the tranquil past,
The form I long for - always and in vain, -
Should I not cry, like one released from pain:
'Dear and long absent, you return at last,
And life its natural aspect wears again!'
Scheme | ABBABB CDCDDEDE FFCX GBXGB XHHEH IJJIX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101010 1101010101 011111 0111010 111101 0101011111 01111011010 1111010001 01110111010 1001010111 110101111 01010101 101101101 1100010100 111011111 101001101 101011011 111111011 1111110101 1101110111 1111111111 01010011111 0111011111 1111110101 111110101 11010101001 1111011100 010101010 1111100101 011111001 1111110111 1011010111 0111001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,332 |
Words | 263 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 8, 4, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 35 Views
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"Exile" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1458/exile>.
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