Analysis of Vision X
Khalil Gibran 1883 (Bsharri) – 1931 (New York City)
There in the middle of the field, by the side of a crystalline stream, I saw a bird-cage whose rods and hinges were fashioned by an expert's hands. In one corner lay a dead bird, and in another were two basins -- one empty of water and the other of seeds. I stood there reverently, as if the lifeless bird and the murmur of the water were worthy of deep silence and respect -- something worth of examination and meditation by the heard and conscience.
As I engrossed myself in view and thought, I found that the poor creature had died of thirst beside a stream of water, and of hunger in the midst of a rich field, cradle of life; like a rich man locked inside his iron safe, perishing from hunger amid heaps of gold.
Before my eyes I saw the cage turned suddenly into a human skeleton, and the dead bird into a man's heart which was bleeding from a deep wound that looked like the lips of a sorrowing woman. A voice came from that wound saying, "I am the human heart, prisoner of substance and victim of earthly laws.
"In God's field of Beauty, at the edge of the stream of life, I was imprisoned in the cage of laws made by man.
"In the center of beautiful Creation I died neglected because I was kept from enjoying the freedom of God's bounty.
"Everything of beauty that awakens my love and desire is a disgrace, according to man's conceptions; everything of goodness that I crave is but naught, according to his judgment.
"I am the lost human heart, imprisoned in the foul dungeon of man's dictates, tied with chains of earthly authority, dead and forgotten by laughing humanity whose tongue is tied and whose eyes are empty of visible tears."
All these words I heard, and I saw them emerging with a stream of ever thinning blood from that wounded heart.
More was said, but my misted eyes and crying should prevented further sight or hearing.
Scheme | X X X X X X X X X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001010110110101110111101001011101011010110001001101101100010111111000110101001010100101110001101100100010101010 1101101011110110111101011100110001101110111011101110110011001111 01111101110001010100001101011111010111110110110011111101101011001100101101 011110101101111101000111111 00101100010110100111110100101110 101101010110010100101011010101101111110101110 11011010100011011011111100100100101100100111101111011001 11111011101010111010111101 11111110101010101110 |
Characters | 1,854 |
Words | 344 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 9 |
Letters per line (avg) | 162 |
Words per line (avg) | 38 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 162 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 95 Views
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"Vision X" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25257/vision-x>.
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