Analysis of Prayer to the Rain God
Oh, hard rain that drums on the tin eaves,
Smacks the blacktop with nonstop splattering,
Raps the window glass with each wind gust,
And spouts out the drain pipe an artesian spring;
Oh, anti-liturgical benediction;
Oh, rampant and wanton redemption;
Oh, most holy gully-washer and moisture-laden westerly offshore flow:
Make frothing brooks in the dry ditches
And roiling creek beds out of rock-strewn arroyos;
Swell the stream to a leaping, swirling, dusky rush,
And let it billow out a silt cloud into the big river.
Drench all desire and longing,
All pleasure and depression,
All scheming and regret,
Be they solitary leaf or uprooted tree,
And, in the wild ebullient overflow,
Sweep them out to sea.
Scheme | ABXBCCD XAXXBCXEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111011 101111 101011111 0110111101 1100100010 110010010 1110101001010100111 11100110 0101111111 10110101011 011101011010110 11010010 1100010 110001 11100110101 000101010 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 687 |
Words | 116 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 10 |
Lines Amount | 17 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 281 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
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"Prayer to the Rain God" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/82239/prayer-to-the-rain-god>.
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