Analysis of The Greatest Distance
The baby's world is simple and small
Floating free without friend or foe
Before the first glassy touch of space
His greatest distance runs from head to toe.
The sailor's world is wind and wave
And filled with dreams of liquid lore
Eloquence illuminated by salt and spray
His greatest distance extends from shore to shore.
The stargazer's world is long and linear
And concentrated on the things of night
Staring out to the far tips of infinity
His greatest distance is measured in twinkling light.
And I, suddenly in the grips of this falling world
Lying silent in my half-empty berth
Reaching for the hand that's no longer there
The greatest distance that I know is six feet of earth.
Scheme | XAXA XBXB XCXC XDXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 010111001 10101111 010110111 1101011111 01011101 01111101 10001001101 11010011111 011110100 010010111 101101110100 1101011001001 0110000111101 1010011101 1010111101 0101011111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 669 |
Words | 121 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 139 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 2 Views
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"The Greatest Distance" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/86853/the-greatest-distance>.
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