Analysis of Personification of a Photograph



A photograph visited me today.
It climbed out from beneath the dictionary of songs
Which sits atop my litany desk.
It wore different shades of gray
Monochrome, like his voiceless monotone--a boy.

Girl, you're insane.
You'll take your nickel paper and paint it pale,
Like you always do.
Frame the face of a league of words.
Build a shrine with toothpick beams.

The face smirked at me but did not speak.
I propped him up and begged for him to stay.

Against your bedpost he'll be tacked.
Girl, throw that thought away.
Burn it like a fallen leaf.
With it rake mercurial froth
And watch the bubbles roll astray.

Myriad smoky hues are planted on the page,
A four-by-six rectangular body
Sans heart, sans arms, sans legs.

Blue eyes are empty, wan, and bronze hair stony black.
Distortion feeds the compromise;
The smile is drawn intact.


Scheme AXXAX XXXXX XA BAXXA XXX XXB
Poetic Form
Metre 010100101 111101010011 110111001 11100111 1011101001 1101 11110100111 1111 10110111 101111 011111111 1111011111 0111111 111101 1110101 11101001 01010101 100101110101 0111010010 111111 111101011101 0101010 011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 808
Words 146
Sentences 16
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 2, 5, 3, 3
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 109
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 01, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

44 sec read
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