Analysis of The Human Face
Paul Eluard 1895 (Saint-Denis) – 1952 (Charenton-le-Pont)
Of all the springtimes of the world
This one is the ugliest
Of all of my ways of being
To be trusting is the best
Grass pushes up snow
Like the stone of a tomb
But I sleep within the storm
And awaken eyes bright
Slowness, brief time ends
Where all streets must pass
Through my innermost recesses
So that I would meet someone
I don’t listen to monsters
I know them and all that they say
I see only beautiful faces
Good faces, sure of themselves
Certain soon to ruin their masters
II. The women’s role
As they sing, the maids dash forward
To tidy up the killing fields
Well-powdered girls, quickly to their knees
Their hands -- reaching for the fresh air --
Are blue like never before
What a glorious day!
Look at their hands, the dead
Look at their liquid eyes
This is the toilet of transience
The final toilet of life
Stones sink and disappear
In the vast, primal waters
The final toilet of time
Hardly a memory remains
the dried-up well of virtue
In the long, oppressive absences
One surrenders to tender flesh
Under the spell of weakness
III. As deep as the silence
As deep as the silence
Of a corpse under ground
With nothing but darkness in mind
As dull and deaf
As autumn by the pond
Covered with stale shame
Poison, deprived of its flower
And of its golden beasts
out its night onto man
You, my patient one
My patience
My parent
Head held high and proudly
Organ of the sluggish night
Bow down
Concealing all of heaven
And its favor
Prepare for vengeance
A bed where I'll be born
V. First march, the voice of another
Laughing at sky and planets
Drunk with their confidence
The wise men wish for sons
And for sons from their sons
Until they all perish in vain
Time burdens only fools
While Hell alone prospers
And the wise men are absurd
VI. A wolf
Day surprises me and night scares me
haunts me and winter follows me
An animal walking on the snow has placed
Its paws in the sand or in the mud
Its paws have traveled
From further afar than my own steps
On a path where death
Has the imprints of life
VII. A flawless fire
The threat under the red sky
Came from below -- jaws
And scales and links
Of a slippery, heavy chain
Life was spread about generously
So that death took seriously
The debt it was paid without a thought
Death was the God of love
And the conquerors in a kiss
Swooned upon their victims
Corruption gained courage
And yet, beneath the red sky
Under the appetites for blood
Under the dismal starvation
The cavern closed
The kind earth filled
The graves dug in advance
Children were no longer afraid
Of maternal depths
And madness and stupidity
And vulgarity make way
For humankind and brotherhood
No longer fighting against life --
For an everlasting humankind
On my school notebooks
On my desk, on the trees
On the sand, on the snow
I write your name
On all the read pages
On all the empty pages
Stone, blood, paper or ash
I write your name
On the golden images
On the weapons of warriors
On the crown of kings
I write your name
On the jungle and the desert
On the nests, on the broom
On the echo of my childhood
I write your name
On the wonders of nights
On the white bread of days
On the seasons betrothed
I write your name
d'azur On all my blue rags
On the sun-molded pond
On the moon-enlivened lake
I write your name
On the fields, on the horizon
On the wings of birds
And on the mill of shadows
I write your name
On every burst of dawn
On the sea, on the boats
On the insane mountain
I write your name
On the foam of clouds
On the sweat of the storm
On the rain, thick and insipid
I write your name
On the shimmering shapes
On the colorful bells
On the physical truth
I write your name
On the alert pathways
On the wide-spread roads
On the overflowing places
I write your name
On the lamp that is ignited
On the lamp that is dimmed
On my reunited houses
I write your name
On the fruit cut
Scheme | axxx bcde xxfg hifxh x jxk xxi xx lmxhx xxxxx l lxn xop qxx glxrexgqlx q xlss txhj x rrxu xxxm q vxxt rrx xxxx vugx xxxx riwmn xkbPffxP fhxP xcwP xxaP xoxP gxxP xxgP xdaP xxxP xxfP xxfP x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101101 1110100 11111110 1110101 11011 101101 1110101 001011 10111 11111 1110100 111111 1110110 11101111 111010010 1101101 101110110 1011 11101110 11010101 110110111 11101011 1111001 101001 111101 111101 110101100 0101011 11001 0011010 0101011 10010001 0111110 001010100 10101101 1001110 1111010 111010 101101 11011001 1101 110101 10111 10011110 011101 111101 11101 110 110 111010 1010101 11 0101110 0110 01110 011111 111011010 1011010 111100 011111 011111 01111001 110101 110110 0011101 101 101010111 11010101 11001010111 110011001 11110 110011111 10111 100111 101010 0110011 11011 0101 10100101 111011000 11111000 011110101 110111 00100001 101110 010110 0101011 1001011 10010010 0101 0111 011001 10011001 10101 01000100 0010011 110010 11010011 1101010 1111 111101 101101 1111 110110 1101010 111011 1111 1010100 10101100 10111 1111 10100010 101101 1010111 1111 101011 101111 10101 1111 111111 101101 1010101 1111 10110010 10111 010111 1111 1100111 101101 100110 1111 10111 101101 101101 1111 101001 101001 101001 1111 10011 10111 1010010 1111 10111010 101111 1101010 1111 1011 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 3,852 |
Words | 739 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 40 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 5, 1, 3, 3, 2, 5, 5, 1, 3, 3, 3, 10, 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 148 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 76 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:42 min read
- 132 Views
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"The Human Face" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28579/the-human-face>.
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