Analysis of Ode to Sleep
On this my pensive pillow, gentle Sleep!
Descend, in all thy downy plumage drest:
Wipe with thy wing these eyes that wake to weep,
And place thy crown of poppies on my breast.
O steep my senses in oblivion's balm,
And sooth my throbbing pulse with lenient hand;
This tempest of my boiling blood becalm!
Despair grows mild at thy supreme command.
Yet ah! in vain, familiar with the gloom,
And sadly toiling through the tedious night,
I seek sweet slumber, while that virgin bloom,
For ever hovering, haunts my wretched sight.
Nor would the dawning day my sorrows charm:
Black midnight and the blaze of noon alike
To me appear, while with uplifted arm
Death stands prepar'd, but still delays, to strike.
Scheme | ABAB CBCB DBDB EFEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111010101 0101110101 1111111111 0111110111 11110011 01110111001 1101110101 0111110101 1101010101 01010101001 1111011101 11010011101 1101011101 110011101 1101111001 1101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 709 |
Words | 125 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 139 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
- 38 sec read
- 104 Views
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"Ode to Sleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 28 Mar. 2023. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37156/ode-to-sleep>.
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