Analysis of A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight
James Joyce 1882 (Rathgar) – 1941 (Zürich)
They mouth love's language. Gnash
The thirteen teeth
Your lean jaws grin with. Lash
Your itch and quailing, nude greed of the flesh.
Love's breath in you is stale, worded or sung,
As sour as cat's breath,
Harsh of tongue.
This grey that stares
Lies not, stark skin and bone.
Leave greasy lips their kissing. None
Will choose her what you see to mouth upon.
Dire hunger holds his hour.
Pluck forth your heart, saltblood, a fruit of tears.
Pluck and devour!
| Scheme | AXAXBXB CXXXDCD |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 111101 0111 111111 110111101 1101111011 110111 111 1111 111101 11011101 1101111101 1101110 111110111 10010 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 450 |
| Words | 84 |
| Sentences | 11 |
| Stanzas | 2 |
| Stanza Lengths | 7, 7 |
| Lines Amount | 14 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 177 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
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