Analysis of Footsteps
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
On an ebony bed decorated
with coral eagles, sound asleep lies
Nero --- unconscious, quiet, and blissful;
thriving in the vigor of flesh,
and in the splendid power of youth.
But in the alabaster hall that encloses
the ancient shrine of the Aenobarbi
how restive are his Lares.
The little household gods tremble,
and try to hide their insignificant bodies.
For they heard a horrible clamor,
a deathly clamor ascending the stairs,
iron footsteps rattling the stairs.
And now in a faint the miserable Lares,
burrow in the depth of the shrine,
one tumbles and stumbles upon the other,
one little god falls over the other
for they understand what sort of clamor this is,
they are already feeling the footsteps of the Furies.
Scheme | XABXX AXABXCDDAXCCXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111001100 110101011 101010010 10001011 000101011 100100111 0101101 110111 0101110 01111010010 111010010 0101001001 1011001 01001010001 10001101 11001001010 1101110010 11011111011 110101001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 709 |
Words | 126 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 14 |
Lines Amount | 19 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 288 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 108 Views
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"Footsteps" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7140/footsteps>.
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