Analysis of A Conversation
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev 1818 (Oryol, Oryol Governorate) – 1883 ( Bougival, Seine-et-Oise)
'Neither the Jungfrau nor the Finsteraarhorn has yet been trodden by the foot of man!'
The topmost peaks of the Alps ... A whole chain of rugged precipices ...
The very heart of the mountains.
Over the mountain, a pale green, clear, dumb sky. Bitter, cruel frost; hard, sparkling snow; sticking out of the snow, the sullen peaks of the ice-covered, wind-swept mountains.
Two massive forms, two giants on the sides of the horizon, the Jungfrau and the Finsteraarhorn.
And the Jungfrau speaks to its neighbour: 'What canst thou tell that is new? thou canst see more. What is there down below?'
A few thousand years go by: one minute. And the Finsteraarhorn roars back in answer: 'Thick clouds cover the earth.... Wait a little!'
Thousands more years go by: one minute.
'Well, and now?' asks the Jungfrau.
'Now I see, there below all is the same. There are blue waters, black forests, grey heaps of piled-up stones. Among them are still fussing to and fro the insects, thou knowest, the bipeds that have never yet once defiled thee nor me.'
Thousands of years go by: one minute.
'Well, and now?' asks the Jungfrau.
'There seem fewer insects to be seen,' thunders the Finsteraarhorn, 'it is clearer down below; the waters have shrunk, the forests are thinner.' Again thousands of years go by: one minute.
'What seeest thou?' says the Jungfrau.
'Close about us it seems purer,' answers the Finsteraarhorn, 'but there in the distance in the valleys are still spots, and something is moving.' 'And now?' asks the Jungfrau, after more thousands of years: one minute.
'Now it is well,' answers the Finsteraarhorn, 'it is clean everywhere, quite white, wherever you look ... Everywhere is our snow, unbroken snow and ice. Everything is frozen. It is well now, it is quiet.'
'Good,' said the Jungfrau. 'But we have gossipped enough, old fellow. It's time to slumber.'
'It is time, indeed.'
The huge mountains sleep; the green, clear sky sleeps over the region of eternal silence.
Scheme | a bb b a x x c D x c D c d c c d x b |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011011111010111 0111010111101 01011010 100100111111010111011011010101101101110 11011101011001001001 001111111111111111111101 0110111110001110101110011010 101111110 101101 11110111011111011011111101111101010111011110111111 101111110 101101 11101111100111101010101101011001101111110 111101 1011111010011100100010111010110111011011011110 111110011111011010111011010101011011011111110 110111110111011110 11101 011010111110010101010 |
Characters | 2,043 |
Words | 377 |
Sentences | 42 |
Stanzas | 18 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 19 |
Letters per line (avg) | 79 |
Words per line (avg) | 18 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 84 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 19 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 7 Views
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"A Conversation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55642/a-conversation>.
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