Analysis of The Alchemist's Petition
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
Thou wilt not sentence to eternal life
My soul that prays that it may sleep and sleep
Like a white statue dropped into the deep,
Covered with sand, covered with chests of gold,
And slave-bones, tossed from many a pirate hold.
But for this prayer thou wilt not bind in Hell
My soul, that shook with love for Fame and Truth—
In Such unquenched desires consumed his youth—
Let me turn dust, like dead leaves in the Fall,
Or wood that lights an hour your knightly hall—
Scheme | XAABB XCCDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1111010101 1111111101 101110101 1011101111 01111100101 1111111101 1111111101 0110100111 1111111001 11111101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 476 |
Words | 90 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 10 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 184 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 27 sec read
- 353 Views
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"The Alchemist's Petition" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37339/the-alchemist%27s-petition>.
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