Analysis of Kleitos' Illness
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
Kleitos, a likeable young man,
about twenty-three years old
with a first-class education, a rare knowledge of Greek
is seriously ill. He caught the fever
that reaped a harvest this year in Alexandria.
The fever found him already worn out morally
by the pain of knowing that his friend, a young actor,
had stopped loving and wanting him.
He's seriously ill, and his parents are terribly worried.
An old servant who brought him up
is also full of fear for Kleitos' life;
and in her panic
she remembers an idol she used to worship
when she was young, before she came there as a maid,
to the house of distinguished Christians, and turned Christian
herself.
She secretly brings some votive bread, some wine and honey,
and places them before the idol. She chants whatever phrases
she remembers from old prayers: odds and ends. The ninny
doesn't realize that the black demon couldn't care less
whether a Christian gets well or not.
Scheme | ABCDEFDGHIJKILMNFOFPQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010011 0110111 1011010011011 11000111010 110101100100 0101101011100 1011101110110 11100101 1100010110110010 11101111 110111111 00010 101011011110 111101111101 1011010100110 01 1100111111010 010101010111010 1010111101010 1010101101011 100101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 912 |
Words | 163 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 21 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 737 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 161 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 122 Views
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