Analysis of The Riddle For Men
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
This Riddle rede or die,
Says History since our Flood,
To warn her sons of power:-
It can be truth, it can be lie;
Be parasite to twist awry;
The drouthy vampire for your blood;
The fountain of the silver flower;
A brand, a lure, a web, a crest;
Supple of wax or tempered steel;
The spur to honour, snake in nest:
'Tis as you will with it to deal;
To wear upon the breast,
Or trample under heel.
And rede you not aright,
Says Nature, still in red
Shall History's tale be writ!
For solely thus you lead to light
The trailing chapters she must write,
And pass my fiery test of dead
Or living through the furnace-pit:
Dislinked from who the softer hold
In grip of brute, and brute remain:
Of whom the woeful tale is told,
How for one short Sultanic reign,
Their bodies lapse to mould,
Their souls behowl the plain.
Scheme | ABCAABCDEDEDE AFGHHFGIJIJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111 11001101 1101110 11111111 1101101 0110111 010101010 01010101 10111101 0111101 11111111 110101 110101 01111 110101 1100111 110011111 01010111 011100111 11010101 1110101 01110101 11010111 111111 110111 11101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 797 |
Words | 160 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 13 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 312 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 78 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 06, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 108 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Riddle For Men" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15653/the-riddle-for-men>.
Discuss this George Meredith poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In