Analysis of The Ravens
Georg Trakl 1887 (Salzburg) – 1914 (Kraków)
Over the black crevice
at noon the ravens rush with rusty cries.
Their shadows touch the deer’s back
and at times they loom in gnarled rest.
O how they derange the brown stillness,
in the one acre itself entranced,
like a woman married to grave premonitions,
and at times you can hear them bicker
about a corpse they sniffed-out somewhere,
and sharply they bend their flight towards north
and dwindle away like a funeral
march in the air, shivering with bliss.
Translated by Eric Plattner & Joseph Suglia
D ie Raben
Über den schwarzen Winkel hasten
Am Mittag die Raben mit hartem Schrei.
Ihr Schatten streift an der Hirschkuh vorbei
Und manchmal sieht man sie mürrisch rasten.
O wie sie die braune Stille stören,
In der ein Acker sich verzückt,
Wie ein Weib, das schwere Ahnung berückt,
Und manchmal kann man sie keifen hören
Um ein Aas, das sie irgendwo wittern,
Und plötzlich richten nach Nord sie den Flug
Und schwinden wie ein Leichenzug
In Lüften, die von Wollust zittern.
Scheme | AXBC AXXD XXEX E F FDXF GCCG FBBF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100110 1101011101 111011 01111011 111010110 001100101 101010110010 011111110 01011111 0101111011 0100110100 100110011 01011010101 1110 1111010 11011011111 1111111 11111111 11111111 01110111 11111111 11111111 1111111 111111111 11111 0111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,059 |
Words | 175 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 1, 1, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 08, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 109 Views
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"The Ravens" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14788/the-ravens>.
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