Analysis of Rainy Night
Dorothy Parker 1893 (Long Branch) – 1967 (New York City)
Ghosts of all my lovely sins,
Who attend too well my pillow,
Gay the wanton rain begins;
Hide the limp and tearful willow.
Turn aside your eyes and ears,
Trail away your robes of sorrow,
You shall have my further years-
You shall walk with me tomorrow.
I am sister to the rain;
Fey and sudden and unholy,
Petulant at the windowpane,
Quickly lost, remembered slowly.
I have lived with shades, a shade;
I am hung with graveyard flowers.
Let me be tonight arrayed
In the silver of the showers.
Every fragile thing shall rust;
When another April passes
I may be a furry dust,
Sifting through the brittle grasses.
All sweet sins shall be forgot;
Who will live to tell their siring?
Hear me now, nor let me rot
Wistful still, and still aspiring.
Ghosts of dear temptations, heed;
I am frail, be you forgiving.
See you not that I have need
To be living with the living?
Sail, tonight, the Styx's breast;
Glide among the dim processions
Of the exquisite unblest,
Spirits of my shared transgressions,
Roam with young Persephone.
Plucking poppies for your slumber . . .
With the morrow, there shall be
One more wraith among your number.
Scheme | ABAB CBCB DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK LKLK XMFM DNEN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111101 10111110 1010101 1010101 1011101 10111110 1111101 1111101 1110101 10100010 1001010 10101010 1111101 1111110 1110101 00101010 10010111 10101010 1110101 10101010 1111101 1111111 1111111 10101010 1110101 11111010 1111111 11101010 101011 10101010 101001 10111010 1111 10101110 1010111 11101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,135 |
Words | 201 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 151 Views
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"Rainy Night" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8215/rainy-night>.
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