Analysis of Alive She Cried



Green gainsay: get back!
Grab a girl
Get back in black-
The ball beckons.
The invitation calls for boutonnieres.
Fear not - she feels you.
I cannot help but to try
To free her.

Fire illuminates her eyes-
Anyone can see that;
They’re heavenly in their brilliance.
But there’s something more behind them
That only I can see.
With one look she whisks me away
Somewhere sacred
Untouched by anyone in this place.

We were in this palace-
You, walking ahead of me,
Dressed in a long dark gown,
Corridors caressing careful steps
Taken by unseen feet.
Dressed in intrigue
I followed you.
You knew it-
At least I fathomed that-
Feeding off your furtive glances.

You led me to a room with blue walls
And no lights.
You said we’d make our own
And I believed you-
I had to
Since you were what I wanted to see.
But your eyes were closed
And you told me we were
In an open field,
Wind whispering,
Long grass,
Wavy hair,
Wet soil,
Summer skin, warm, touching sunset.
My silk shirt was wet with warm sweat.
We were there.

The field was just as she described it
And blue like the walls from whence we came.
Pale moonlight let me see her this time.
She was more beautiful than how I saw her in my mind.
But was this real?
Or still in my mind?
She was a mystic rain,
Pain, falling from her dark hair
Onto my face as I lay there.
I reach out to see if she’s there
And I feel a ghostly mist
Touching my hair
My skin
The air.
Silence-
She’s here with me-
I feel her.

I see her moving towards
A house upon a hill.
A mansion that she knows
From some time ago.
I followed her like an endless night
In bright midnight
We grazed through a graveyard-
Eerie shapes moved through me.
She finally came to the place
She wanted us to be-
And kissed me.
Passionate
Wild
Sensual
Icy air flew through my soul.
I felt warm with emotion
As blood filtered through my veins.
I desperately hung onto her-
Pulled her closer-
Blood, furiously pumping-
I wanted this to be forever.

When I came to
I was in the drawing room
Of the old Hollywell House.
The ball was in full swing by this time-
A feast of friends who brought other friends,
Some of which were having the time of their lives
Dancing, and doing other such frivolous things.
I envied them-
I found myself in the middle of a conversation
About politics.

Just when I was asked my opinion
On some such important matter,
Through a window, looking down onto the gated entrance
I saw her.
She was ascending the steps
For the first time that evening.


Scheme AXABBCXD XEFGHXXI XHXJXXCKEX XXXCCHXDXLXMXNNM KXOPXPXMMMXMXMFHD XXXXQQXHIHHXXXXRXDDLD CXXOXXXGRX RDFDJL
Poetic Form
Metre 1111 101 1101 0110 0010111 11111 1101111 110 1001001 10111 11000110 11101011 110111 11111101 110 01110011 100110 1100111 100111 100010101 101011 1001 1101 111 11111 10111010 111101111 011 1111101 01011 111 110111011 11101 011110 01101 1100 11 101 11 1011101 11111111 101 011111011 011011111 11111011 11110011110011 1111 11011 110101 1101011 10111111 11111111 0110101 1011 11 01 10 1111 110 1101001 010101 010111 11101 110011101 011 11101 101111 11001101 110111 011 100 1 100 1011111 1111010 1110111 110001100 1010 1100010 110111010 1111 1100101 10111 011011111 011111101 11101001111 100101011001 1101 111001010010 0110 111111010 11101010 10101011001010 110 1101001 1011110
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 2,489
Words 530
Sentences 36
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 10, 16, 17, 21, 10, 6
Lines Amount 96
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 239
Words per stanza (avg) 59

About this poem

This dream-like narrative straddles the boundary between the known and the unknown. Inspired by the supernatural motif used in Romantic era poetry, while using the contemporary form of free verse, “Alive She Cried” takes you on an ethereal trip and leaves you wondering where exactly you went.

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Submitted by Thomas.Slivinski on October 25, 2023

2:39 min read
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