Analysis of The Midnight Skaters

Edmund Blunden 1896 (London) – 1974 (Long Melford)



The hop-poles stand in cones,
The icy pond lurks under,
The pole-tops steeple to the thrones
Of stars, sound gulfs of wonder;
But not the tallest thee, 'tis said,
Could fathom to this pond's black bed.
Then is not death at watch
Within those secret waters?
What wants he but to catch
Earth's heedless sons and daughters?
With but a crystal parapet
Between, he has his engines set.

Then on, blood shouts, on, on,
Twirl, wheel and whip above him,
Dance on this ball-floor thin and wan,
Use him as though you love him;
Court him, elude him, reel and pass,
And let him hate you through the glass.


Scheme ABABCCXDXDEE FGFGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 011101 0101110 01110101 1111110 11010111 11011111 111111 0111010 111111 111010 1101010 01111101 111111 1101011 11111101 1111111 11011101 01111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 584
Words 111
Sentences 6
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 12, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 228
Words per stanza (avg) 55
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

33 sec read
177

Edmund Blunden

Edmund Charles Blunden, MC was an English poet, author and critic. more…

All Edmund Blunden poems | Edmund Blunden Books

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