Analysis of The Wolves
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy 1817 (Saint Petersburg) – 1875 (Chernigov Governorate)
When the church-village slumbers
And the last songs are sung,
When the grey mist arising,
Is o'er the marshes hung,
'Tis then the woods forsaking,
Their way cross country taking,
Nine howling wolves come hungering for food.
Behind the first,--the grey one,--
Trot seven more of black,
Close on their hoary leader;
As rearguard of the pack
The red wolf limps, all bloody,
His paws with gore still ruddy
As after his companions grim he pants.
When through the village lurking
Nought gives them check or fright,
No watch dog dares to bellow,
The peasant ghastly white,
His breath can scarce be taking,
His limbs withhold from shaking--
While prayers of terror freeze upon his lips!
About the church they circle
And softly slink away
To prowl about the priest's farm,
Then of a sudden they
Are round the drink shop turning,
Fain some bad word be learning--
From peasants drinking noisily within.
With fully thirteen bullets
Thy weapon must be armed,
And with a wad of goat's hair;
Then thou wilt fight unharmed.
Fire calmly,--and before all
Will the leader, the grey, fall,
The rest will surely follow one by one.
When the cock wakes the village
From out its morning dream,
Thou wilt behold the corpses--
Nine she-wolves by the stream!
On the right lies the grey one,
To left in frost the lame one--
All bloody,--God pardon us sinners!
Scheme | ABCBCCX DEXEFFA CGXGCCA XHXHCCX AIXIJJD XKAKDDA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101 001111 1011010 1100101 1101010 1111010 1101110011 0101011 110111 1111010 11101 0111110 1111110 1101010111 1101010 111111 1111110 010101 1111110 1101110 1111010111 0101110 010101 1101011 110101 1101110 1111110 1101010001 1101110 110111 0101111 111101 10100011 1010011 0111010111 1011010 111101 1101010 111101 1011011 1101011 110110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,298 |
Words | 238 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 174 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 62 Views
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"The Wolves" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/441/the-wolves>.
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