Analysis of Evening Ebb

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



The ocean has not been so quiet for a long while; five nightherons
Fly shorelong voiceless in the hush of the air
Over the calm of an ebb that almost mirrors their wings.
The sun has gone down, and the water has gone down
From the weed-clad rock, but the distant cloud-wall rises. The
ebb whispers.
Great cloud-shadows float in the opal water.
Through rifts in the screen of the world pale gold gleams, and the
evening
Star suddenly glides like a flying torch.
As if we had not been meant to see her; rehearsing behind
The screen of the world for another audience.


Scheme ABACDAEDFGHA
Poetic Form
Metre 010111110101111 1110001101 1001111111011 011110010111 10111101011100 110 1111001010 1100110111100 10 1100110101 111111111001001 011011010100
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 561
Words 106
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 447
Words per stanza (avg) 104
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

31 sec read
83

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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