Analysis of Pebbles
Herman Melville 1819 – 1891
I
Though the Clerk of the Weather insist,
And lay down the weather-law,
Pintado and gannet they wist
That the winds blow whither they list
In tempest or flaw.
II
Old are the creeds, but stale the schools,
Revamped as the mode may veer,
But Orm from the schools to the beaches
strays
And, finding a Conch hoar with time, he
delays
And reverent lifts it to ear.
That Voice, pitched in far monotone,
Shall it swerve? shall it deviate ever?
The Seas have inspired it, and Truth--
Truth, varying from sameness never.
III
In hollows of the liquid hills
Where the long Blue Ridges run,
The flattery of no echo thrills,
For echo the seas have none;
Nor aught that gives man back man's strain--
The hope of his heart, the dream in his brain.
IV
On ocean where the embattled fleets repair,
Man, suffering inflictor, sails on sufferance
there.
V
Implacable I, the old Implacable Sea:
Implacable most when most I smile serene--
Pleased, not appeased, by myriad wrecks in
me.
VI
Curled in the comb of yon billow Andean,
Is it the Dragon's heaven-challenging crest?
Elemental mad ramping of ravening waters--
Yet Christ on the Mount, and the dove in
her nest!
VII
Healed of my hurt, I laud the inhuman Sea--
Yea, bless the Angels Four that there convene;
For healed I am ever by their pitiless breath
Distilled in wholesome dew named rosmarine.
Scheme | ABCBBC ADXXEFEXGHXH AIJIJKK LMDM FFNOF AJPXOP LFNXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (33%) |
Metre | 1 101101001 0110101 10111 10111011 01011 1 11011101 0110111 111011010 1 010011111 01 01001111 1110110 111111010 011010101 110011010 1 01010101 1011101 010011101 1100111 11111111 0111101011 1 11010010101 11001111 1 1 010010101001 01001111101 1101110010 1 1 10011110100 11010101001 0101101110 111010010 01 1 11111100101 1101011101 111110111001 01010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,294 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 12, 7, 4, 5, 6, 5 |
Lines Amount | 45 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 149 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 94 Views
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"Pebbles" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19094/pebbles>.
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