Analysis of Niobe
Henrietta Cordelia Ray 1852 (New York City) – 1916 (New York City)
O mother-heart! when fast the arrows flew,
Like blinding lightning, smiting as they fell,
One after one, one after one, what knell
Could fitly voice thy anguish! Sorrow grew
To throes intensest, when thy sad soul knew
Thy youngest, too, must go.
Was it not well,
Avengers wroth, just one to spare? Ay, tell
The ages of soul-struggle sterner? Through
The flinty stone, O image of despair,
Sad Niobe, thy maddened grief did flow
In bitt’rest tears, when all thy wailing prayer
Was so denied. Alas! what weight of woe
Is prisoned in thy melancholy eyes!
What mother-love beneath the Stoic lies!
Scheme | ABBAACBBADCDCEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101110101 110101111 1101110111 111110101 11111111 110111 1111 11111111 0101110101 0101110101 1111111 011111101 1101011111 110011001 1101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 599 |
Words | 102 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 15 |
Lines Amount | 15 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 462 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 102 |
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"Niobe" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54100/niobe>.
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