Analysis of Overtures
John Crowe Ransom 1888 (Pulaski) – 1974 (Gambier)
My dear and I, we disagreed
When we had been much time together.
For when will lovers learn to sail
From sailing always in good weather?
She said a hateful little word
Between the pages of the book.
I bubbled with a noble rage,
I bruised her with a dreadful look,
And thanked her kindly for the word
Of such a little silly thing;
Indeed I loved my poet then
Beyond my dear, or anything.
And she, the proud girl, swept away,
How swift and scornfully she went!
And I the frightened lover stayed,
And have not had one hour's content
Until to-day; until I knew
That I was loved again, again;
Then hazard how this thing befel,
Brother of women and of men?
'Perhaps a gallant gentleman
Accomplished it, who saw you bleed;
Perhaps she wrote upon the book
A riddling thing that you could read;
'Perhaps she crept to you, and cried,
And took upon her all the blame.'
O no, do proud girls creep and cry?
'Perhaps she whispered you your name.'
O no, she walked alone, and I
Was walking in the rainy wood,
And saw her drooping by the tree,
And saw my work of widowhood.
Scheme | ABCB DEXE DFGF XHXH XGCG XAEX XIJI JXXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 11011001 111111010 11110111 11010110 11010101 01010101 11010101 11010101 01010101 11010101 01111101 0111110 01011101 110111 01010101 011111010 01110111 11110101 1101111 10110011 01010100 01011111 01110101 0111111 01111101 01010101 11111101 01110111 11110101 11000101 01010101 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,040 |
Words | 205 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
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"Overtures" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22399/overtures>.
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