Analysis of Confession
Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)
Life returned with a cause-the way
Some strange chance once interrupted it.
Just as on that distant summer day,
I am standing in the same old street.
People are the same, and people's worries,
And the sunset's still a fireball,
Just the way death's night once in a hurry
Nailed it to the ancient mansion's wall.
Women, in the same cheap clothes attired,
Are still wearing down their shoes at night.
Afterwards, against the roofing iron
They are by the garrets crucified.
Here is one of them. She looks so weary
As she steps across the threshold, and
Rising from the basement, drab and dreary,
Walks across the courtyard on a slant.
And again I'm ready with excuses,
And again it's all the same to me.
And the neighbour in the backyard pauses,
Then goes out of sight, and leaves us be.
Don't cry, do not purse your lips up,
They're puffy as it is, dear.
Mind you don't break the drying scab
Of smouldering spring fever.
Your hand is on my breast. Let go!
We are like two live wires.
If we aren't careful, we'll be thrown
Together unawares.
The years will pass, you'll marry yet
And you'll forget this squalor.
To be a woman is a feat,
To drive men mad, that's valour.
And as for me, I've been in thrall
For ages-begged like alms,
And worshipped the great miracle
Of woman's neck, back, arms.
Though bound tight, at the end of day,
By the anguished darkness' loop,
I'm ever lured to get away-
I long to break things up.
Scheme | AXAB XCDC XXXX DXDX XDXD EXXF XXXX XFBD CXXX AXAE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (30%) Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 10110101 11110101 111110101 111000111 1010101010 0011010 1011110010 11101011 100011101 111011111 1000101010 11101010 1111111110 11101010 1010101010 10101101 0011101010 001110111 00100110 111110111 11111111 1101111 11110101 11110 11111111 1111110 111010111 01001 01111101 0101110 11010101 111111 01111101 110111 01001100 110111 11110111 1010101 11011101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,391 |
Words | 265 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 41 Views
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"Confession" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4475/confession>.
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