Analysis of The Phantom Kiss
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
One night in my room, still and beamless,
With will and with thought in eclipse,
I rested in sleep that was dreamless;
When softly there fell on my lips
A touch, as of lips that were pressing
Mine own with the message of bliss--
A sudden, soft, fleeting caressing,
A breath like a maiden's first kiss.
I woke-and the scoffer may doubt me--
I peered in surprise through the gloom;
But nothing and none were about me,
And I was alone in my room.
Perhaps 't was the wind that caressed me
And touched me with dew-laden breath;
Or, maybe, close-sweeping, there passed me
The low-winging Angel of Death.
Some sceptic may choose to disdain it,
Or one feign to read it aright;
Or wisdom may seek to explain it--
This mystical kiss in the night.
But rather let fancy thus clear it:
That, thinking of me here alone,
The miles were made naught, and, in spirit,
Thy lips, love, were laid on mine own.
Scheme | AAAA BABA CDCD CECE FFFX FGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 11011101 11011001 11001111 11011111 011111010 11101011 010110010 0110111 11001111 11001101 110010011 01101011 0111011011 01111101 110110111 01101011 11111011 1111111 110111011 11001001 110110111 11011101 010110010 11101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 873 |
Words | 167 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 114 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 90 Views
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