Analysis of The Bow and the Strings
Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky 1855 (Omsk) – 1909 (St Petersburg)
How dark and heavy’s the delirium’s embrace!
How they’re turbid under moon – the heights!
To have touched Violin for so many years
And not distinguish those Strings in light!
Who craves for us? Who, insolent, has set
In flames two faces, yellow and vexed,
And suddenly the saddened Bow felt
That someone took them and forever merged.
‘How long ago it was – as in a dream –
Tell me trough dark: are you the same one, else?’…
And Strings pressed close, caressing, to him,
Ringing and tossing in their fond caress.
‘Is that all true, that it’s enough, God blessed,
That we shall never ever part again?
And poor Violin replied him always ‘yes’,
Though its heart was sinking in sharp pain.
Bow fell silent, understanding, then,
But poor Violin still echoed its complaint,
And what seemed music to the most men,
To both of them was everlasting pain.
The man didn’t blow, till the night was gone,
The candles … And the Strings were singing, yet…
And they were found, drained of strength, by sun
On the black velvet of the sleepless bed.
Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, January, 2001
Scheme | XXXX AXXX XXXB XCBD CXCD XAXX X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 11110101 11100111101 010101101 1111110011 011101001 010001011 111100101 1101111001 1111110111 011101011 1001001101 1111110111 1111010101 0100101111 111110011 11100101 11001110101 011101011 111110101 011110111 0100010101 010111111 1011010101 0101101100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,124 |
Words | 195 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 119 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 126 Views
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