Analysis of A Shell.
Oh, take this shell, this pretty thing
With tinted waves of pearly red;
Hold close your ear and hear it sing,
Then tell me what its voice hath said.
A song of surges deep and strong,
A song of summer sweet and long,
A sound of storm and wind and rain,
A sound of joy--a glad refrain.
O plaything of the idle sea,
Whence come these changing tints of thine?
Have sunset clouds looked down on thee
And stained thee with their hues divine?
Oh, tell the secrets thou must know
Of clouds above and waves below;
Oh, whisper of the bending sky
And ocean caves where jewels lie.
O beauteous sea-shell, tinged with red,
What dost thou know; what canst thou tell?
Unto what mysteries are thou wed,
Thou fragile thing, thou pearly shell?
A whisper of the sounding sea;
A sweep of surges strong and free;
A tale of life--a tale of death;
A warm, bright sin--an icy breath.
Ah, more than this, thou lovely shell,
Thy years have gathered from the deep!
And, more than this, thy voice can tell
Of things learned in that ocean sleep.
A grave within the lonely sea;
A spot where love can never be;
A place where tears may never fall;
A lonely grave--and that is all.
Scheme | ABABCCDD EFEFGGHH BIBIEEJJ IKIKEELL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 11011101 11110111 11111111 01110101 01110101 01110101 01110101 1110101 11110111 1111111 01111101 11010111 11010101 11010101 01011101 1111111 11111111 101100111 11011101 01010101 01110101 01110111 01111101 11111101 11110101 01111111 11101101 01010101 01111101 01111101 01010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,126 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 221 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 26 Views
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"A Shell." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55187/a-shell.>.
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