Analysis of The Kind Ghosts

Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)



She sleeps on soft, last breaths; but no ghost looms
Out of the stillness of her palace wall,
Her wall of boys on boys and dooms on dooms.

She dreams of golden gardens and sweet glooms,
Not marvelling why her roses never fall
Nor what red mouths were torn to make their blooms.

The shades keep down which well might roam her hall.
Quiet their blood lies in her crimson rooms
And she is not afraid of their footfall.

They move not from her tapestries, their pall,
Nor pace her terraces, their hecatombs,
Lest aught she be disturbed, or grieved at all.


Scheme ABA ABA BAB XAB
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111111 1101010101 0111110111 1111010011 111010101 1111011111 0111111101 1011100101 011101111 1111010011 11010011 1111011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 547
Words 104
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 109
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

31 sec read
146

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Owen poems | Wilfred Owen Books

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