Analysis of Alone in the Wind, on the Prairie

Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)



I know a seraph who has golden eyes,
And hair of gold, and body like the snow.
Here in the wind I dream her unbound hair
Is blowing round me, that desire's sweet glow
Has touched her pale keen face, and willful mien.
And though she steps as one in manner born
To tread the forests of fair Paradise,
Dark memory's wood she chooses to adorn.
Here with bowed head, bashful with half-desire
She glides into my yesterday's deep dream,
All glowing by the misty ferny cliff
Beside the far forbidden thundering stream.
Within my dream I shake with the old flood.
I fear its going, ere the spring days go.
Yet pray the glory may have deathless years,
And kiss her hair, and sweet throat like the snow.


Scheme ABCBDEFEGHIHJBKB
Poetic Form
Metre 110111101 0111010101 1001110011 110111111 1101110101 0111110101 110101110 111110101 11111011010 110111011 110101011 01011001001 0111111011 1111010111 110101111 0101011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 685
Words 131
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 543
Words per stanza (avg) 129
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 22, 2023

40 sec read
142

Vachel Lindsay

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. more…

All Vachel Lindsay poems | Vachel Lindsay Books

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