Analysis of Alexander Pope
In the Royal Garden--
Merlin's Cave--
"A Gothic Library!"
A Greek and Roman sanctuary.
From the darkness of years,
and the chaos of words,
a perfected labyrinth in your mind--
divided into thirds.
Drink coffee morning, noon, and night
to write with wit about a pillow fight,
as chronic headaches fill the open spaces
in this labyrinth of the mind
that you singularly designed.
Wit is written on walls and faces,
as similes turn left--metaphors turn right,
and dare to be bored,
and dare to change places!
The monsters in your labyrinth
make the world tremble.
Chosen by lot, the monsters assemble.
The riotous crowds want to be entertained.
Westminster Hall--appropriated--then profaned.
The bodies drift, lift, and float
down the Thames like gray ghosts
to the throne of Poetry
with its golden grandiose.
Silver souls wait in line to take their turn,
to sit on the empty throne,
where every soul burns.
Usually dead men do not sit on thrones,
but in your case, the devil made a deal--
with the wit--that he owns.
from "Whistling Past the Graveyard"
Scheme | XXAABCDC EEFDDFEXFXGG XDXXAXXXXBXX X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 001010 11 01010 01010100 101011 001011 001010011 010011 11010101 1111010101 1101101010 0110101 11100001 111011010 111110011 01111 011110 0100110 10110 1011010010 0100111101 101010011 0101101 101111 1011100 111001 1011011111 1110101 110011 10001111111 1011010101 101111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,104 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 12, 12, 1 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 206 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
About this poem
The poem is a biographical fantasy.
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Written on March 04, 2015
Submitted by learnott1958 on December 31, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
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"Alexander Pope" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/147303/alexander-pope>.
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