Analysis of False Alarm
Boris Pasternak 1890 (Moscow) – 1960 (Peredelkino)
From early morning-nonsense
With tubs and troughs and strain,
With dampness in the evening
And sunsets in the rain.
Deep sighing of the darkness
And choking swallowed tears,
A railway engine's calling
Down from the sixteenth verst.
Outside and in the garden
A short fast-darkening day;
Small breakages and losses
In true September way.
In daytime autumn's vastness
Beyond the stream is rent
By wailing in the graveyard,
By anguish and lament.
But when the widow's sobbing
Is carried from the bank,
With all my blood I'm with her
And see my death point-blank.
As every year I see it
Out of the hall downstairs,
The long-delayed approaching
Of this my final year.
Through leaves in yellow terror,
Its way swept clear, I see
That winter from the hillside
Is staring down at me.
Scheme | XABA CDBE XEXX CEEE BFGF EDBX GHEH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 1101010 110101 1100010 01001 1101010 010101 011010 110011 1100010 0111001 11010 010101 011010 010111 110001 110001 1101010 110101 1111110 011111 11001111 110111 0101010 111101 1101010 111111 110101 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 755 |
Words | 136 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 88 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 19 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 119 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"False Alarm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4483/false-alarm>.
Discuss this Boris Pasternak poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In