Analysis of Dancing Adairs

Conrad Potter Aiken 1889 (Savannah, Georgia) – 1973 (Savannah, Georgia)



Behold me, in my chiffon, gauze, and tinsel,
Flitting out of the shadow into the spotlight,
And into the shadow again, without a whisper!-
Firefly's my name, I am evanescent.

Firefly's your name. You are evanescent.
But I follow you as remorselessly as darkness,
And shut you in and enclose you, at last, and always,
Till you are lost,-as a voice is lost in silence.

Till I am lost, as a voice is lost in silence. . .
Are you the one who would close so cool about me?
My fire sheds into and through you and beyond you:
How can your fingers hold me? I am elusive.

How can my fingers hold you? You are elusive?
Yes, you are flame, but I surround and love you,
Always extend beyond you, cool, eternal,
To take you into my heart's great void of silence.

You shut me into your heart's great void of silence. . .
O sweet and soothing end for a life of whirling!
Now I am still, whose life was mazed with motion.
Now I sink into you, for love of sleep.


Scheme AXXB BXXC CXDE EDAC CXXX
Poetic Form
Metre 01101011010 1011010101 001010101010 11111010 11111010 1110111110 011000111101 111110111010 111110111010 110111111011 1101010110011 111101111010 111101111010 11111101011 1010111010 111011111110 111011111110 110101101110 11111111110 1110111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 949
Words 184
Sentences 21
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 143
Words per stanza (avg) 37
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
66

Conrad Potter Aiken

Conrad Potter Aiken was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author born in Savannah Georgia whose work includes poetry short stories novels and an autobiography more…

All Conrad Potter Aiken poems | Conrad Potter Aiken Books

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