Analysis of Sonnet I
Alan Seeger 1888 (New York City) – 1916
Down the strait vistas where a city street
Fades in pale dust and vaporous distances,
Stained with far fumes the light grows less and less
And the sky reddens round the day's retreat.
Now out of orient chambers, cool and sweet,
Like Nature's pure lustration, Dusk comes down.
Now the lamps brighten and the quickening town
Rings with the trample of returning feet.
And Pleasure, risen from her own warm mould
Sunk all the drowsy and unloved daylight
In layers of odorous softness, Paphian girls
Cover with gauze, with satin, and with pearls,
Crown, and about her spangly vestments fold
The ermine of the empire of the Night.
Scheme | ABCAADDAEFGGEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011010101 101101100 1111011101 001110101 1111010101 11011111 10110001001 1101010101 0101010111 110100011 01011001011 1011110011 10010111 01010100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 632 |
Words | 110 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 501 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 108 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
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"Sonnet I" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/325/sonnet-i>.
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