Analysis of Campus Sonnets: Return - 1917

Stephen Vincent Benet 1898 (Bethlehem) – 1943 (New York City)



'The College will reopen Sept. -.'
`Catalogue'.

I was just aiming at the jagged hole
Torn in the yellow sandbags of their trench,
When something threw me sideways with a wrench,
And the skies seemed to shrivel like a scroll
And disappear . . . and propped against the bole
Of a big elm I lay, and watched the clouds
Float through the blue, deep sky in speckless crowds,
And I was clean again, and young, and whole.

Lord, what a dream that was! And what a doze
Waiting for Bill to come along to class!
I've cut it now - and he - Oh, hello, Fred!
Why, what's the matter? - here - don't be an ass,
Sit down and tell me! - What do you suppose?
I dreamed I . . . am I . . . wounded? 'You are dead.'


Scheme XX ABBAACCA DEFEDF
Poetic Form
Metre 01010101 10 111101011 100101111 110111101 0011110101 001010101 1011110101 110111011 0111010101 1101110101 1011110111 1111011011 1101011111 1101111101 1111110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 701
Words 138
Sentences 22
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 2, 8, 6
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 168
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

41 sec read
78

Stephen Vincent Benet

Stephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. more…

All Stephen Vincent Benet poems | Stephen Vincent Benet Books

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