Analysis of The Apparition: A Retrospect

Herman Melville 1819 – 1891



Convulsions came; and, where the field
Long slept in pastoral green,
A goblin-mountain was upheaved
(Sure the scared sense was all deceived),
Marl-glen and slag-ravine.

The unreserve of Ill was there,
The clinkers in her last retreat;
But, ere the eye could take it in,
Or mind could comprehension win,
It sunk! - and at our feet.

So, then, Solidity's a crust -
The core of fire below;
All may go well for many a year,
But who can think without a fear
Of horrors that happen so?


Scheme ABAXB XCDDC XEFFE
Poetic Form
Metre 01010101 1101001 0101011 10111101 110101 011111 0100101 11011110 1110101 1101101 11101 0111001 111111001 11110101 1101101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 472
Words 90
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 122
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

27 sec read
342

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American writer best known for the novel Moby-Dick. more…

All Herman Melville poems | Herman Melville Books

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