Analysis of Heat-Wave
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Day after day, week after burning week,
A ruthless sun has sucked the forest dry.
Morn after anxious morn men's glances seek
The hills, hard-etched against a harder sky.
Gay blossoms droop and die.
Menace is here, as day draws to its peak,
And, 'mid the listless gums along the creek,
Hot little breezes sigh.
To-day the threat took shape; the birds were dumb.
Once more, as sullen, savage morning broke,
The silence told that trembling fear had come,
To bird and beast and all the forest folk.
One little wisp of smoke
Far in the south behind the listless gum
Grew to a purple pall. Like some far drum,
A distant muttering broke.
Red noon beheld red death come shouting o'er
These once green slopes-a leaping, living thing.
Touched by its breath, tree after tall tree wore
A fiery crown, as tho' to mock a king -
A ghastly blossoming
Of sudden flame that died and was no more.
And, where a proud old giant towered of yore,
Stood now a blackened thing.
Fierce raved the conquering flame, as demons rave,
Earth shook to thunders of the falling slain.
Brambles and bushes, once so gay and brave,
Shrank back, and writhed, and shrieked and shrieked again
Like sentient things in pain.
Gone from the forest all that kind spring gave…
And now, at laggard last, too late to save,
Comes soft, ironic rain.
Scheme | ABABBAAB CDCDDCCD XEFEEFFE GHGXHGGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110101 0101110101 1101011101 0111010101 110101 1011111111 0101010101 110101 1101110101 1111010101 01011100111 1101010101 110111 1001010101 1101011111 0101001 1111111010 1111010101 1111110111 01001111101 010100 1101110111 01011101011 110101 11010011101 1111010101 1001011101 1101010101 11101 1101011111 0111011111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,284 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 254 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 96 Views
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"Heat-Wave" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6364/heat-wave>.
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