Analysis of To Die Before One Wakes Must be Glad
Alice Walker 1944 (Eatonton)
to die before one
wakes
must be glad
(to the same extent
maybe
that it is also
sad)
a slipping away
in glee
unobserved and
free
in the wide—
area felt spatially,
heart intact.
to die before one
wakes
must be joyous
full swing glorious
(rebellion)
(victory)
unremarked triumph
love letters untorn
foetal fears
unborn
monsters given
berth
(love unseen, guiltily,
as creation)
(life “good”)
to die before one
wakes
must be a dance
(perhaps a jig)
and visual-
skipping tunes of
color
across smirking
eyelids
happy bluely …
thought running gaily
out and out.
to die before one
wakes
must be
nice
(green little passions
red dying
into ice
spinningly
(like a circus)
the blurred landscape
of the runner’s
hurried
mile)
one’s lips curving
sweetly
in one’s most subtle smile.
Scheme | ABcxdxc xdxdx ex ABffadx axxaxeax ABx xexxgxedx ABdhxghefxxxegde |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011 1 111 10101 10 11110 1 01001 01 10 1 001 10011 101 11011 1 1110 11100 010 100 00110 1101 11 11 1010 1 1011 1010 11 11011 1 1101 0101 0100 1011 10 0110 1 101 11010 101 11011 1 11 1 11010 110 011 1 1010 011 1010 10 1 1110 10 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 788 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 5, 2, 7, 8, 3, 9, 16 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 11 |
Words per line (avg) | 2 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 76 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 16 |
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"To Die Before One Wakes Must be Glad" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53246/to-die-before-one-wakes-must-be-glad>.
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