Analysis of Cassandra
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)
REND, rend thine hair, Cassandra: he will go.
Yea, rend thy garments, wring thine hands, and cry
From Troy still towered to the unreddened sky.
See, all but she that bore thee mock thy woe:—
He most whom that fair woman arms, with show
Of wrath on her bent brows; for in this place
This hour thou bad'st all men in Helen's face
The ravished ravishing prize of Death to know.
What eyes, what ears hath sweet Andromache,
Save for her Hector's form and step; as tear
On tear make salt the warm last kiss he gave?
He goes. Cassandra's words beat heavily
Like crows above his crest, and at his ear
Ring hollow in the shield that shall not save.
“O HECTOR, gone, gone, gone! O Hector, thee
Two chariots wait, in Troy long bless'd and curs'd;
And Grecian spear and Phrygian sand athirst
Crave from thy veins the blood of victory.
Lo! long upon our hearth the brand had we,
Lit for the roof-tree's ruin: and to-day
The ground-stone quits the wall,—the wind hath way,—
And higher and higher the wings of fire are free.
“O Paris, Paris! O thou burning brand,
Thou beacon of the sea whence Venus rose,
Lighting thy race to shipwreck! Even that hand
Wherewith she took thine apple let her close
Within thy curls at last, and while Troy glows
Lift thee her trophy to the sea and land.”
Scheme | ABBAACCAXXDEXD EFFEEGGEHIHXIH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010111 1111011101 111101011 1111111111 1111110111 1110111011 110111110101 0110011111 1111111 1101010111 1111011111 11111100 1101110111 1100011111 1101111101 11001011101 0101010011 1111011100 11011010111 1101110011 0111010111 0100100111011 1101011101 1101011101 10111101011 111110101 0111110111 1101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,268 |
Words | 244 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 490 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 118 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 75 Views
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"Cassandra" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7511/cassandra>.
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