Analysis of Morning, Thinking of Empire
Raymond Carver 1938 (Clatskanie) – 1988 (Port Angeles)
We press our lips to the enameled rim of the cups
and know this grease that floats
over the coffee will one day stop our hearts.
Eyes and fingers drop onto silverware
that is not silverware. Outside the window, waves
beat against the chipped walls of the old city.
Your hands rise from the rough tablecloth
as if to prophesy. Your lips tremble . . .
I want to say to hell with the future.
Our future lies deep in the afternoon.
It is a narrow street with a cart and driver,
a driver who looks at us and hesitates,
then shakes his head. Meanwhile,
I coolly crack the egg of a fine Leghorn chicken.
Your eyes film. You turn from me and look across
the rooftops at the sea. Even the flies are still.
I crack the other egg.
Surely we have diminished one another.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJIKLMNOPI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101100101101 011111 100101111101 101011010 11110110101 10101110110 11110110 11111110 1111111010 1010110001 110101101010 0101111010 11111 1101011011010 11111110101 01101100111 110101 10110101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 743 |
Words | 145 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 18 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 593 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 144 |
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"Morning, Thinking of Empire" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/46678/morning%2C-thinking-of-empire>.
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