Analysis of Immortality
Clare Harner 1909 (Green) – 1977 (San Francisco)
Do not stand
By my grave, and weep.
I am not there,
I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
Do not stand
By my grave, and cry—
I am not there,
I did not die.
| Scheme | AbCbddeeffggAhCh |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 111 11101 1111 1111 11010111 11010101 11011101 11010101 11011101 11011101 110101001 11010101 111 11101 1111 1111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 461 |
| Words | 91 |
| Sentences | 4 |
| Stanzas | 1 |
| Stanza Lengths | 16 |
| Lines Amount | 16 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
| Words per line (avg) | 5 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 301 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 83 |
About this poem
Published in the poetry magazine, The Gypsy in 1934, (though written in 1932 in the wake of her brother’s sudden death) Clare Harner’s poem became a funeral eulogy in Missouri and her native Kansas. Now commercially in widespread use by funeral organizers, the poem is identified more commonly as, Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep, and features slightly altered wording. Though it was authenticated that Harner is the original author, it is commonly and erroneously attributed to other sources. more »
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"Immortality" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/175770/immortality>.
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