Analysis of Bon Voyage
Edwin Arlington Robinson 1869 – 1935
Child of a line accurst
And old as Troy,
Bringer of best and worst
In wild alloy—
Light, like a linnet first,
He sang for joy.
Thrall to the gilded ease
Of every day,
Mocker of all degrees
And always gay,
Child of the Cyclades
And of Broadway—
Laughing and half divine
The boy began,
Drunk with a woodland wine
Thessalian:
But there was rue to twine
The pipes of Pan.
Therefore he skipped and flew
The more along,
Vivid and always new
And always wrong,
Knowing his only clew
A siren song.
Careless of each and all
He gave and spent:
Feast or a funeral
He laughed and went,
Laughing to be so small
In the event.
Told of his own deceit
By many a tongue,
Flayed for his long defeat
By being young,
Lured by the fateful sweet
Of songs unsung—
Knowing it in his heart,
But knowing not
The secret of an art
That few forgot,
He played the twinkling part
That was his lot.
And when the twinkle died,
As twinkles do,
He pushed himself aside
And out of view:
Out with the wind and tide,
Before we knew.
Scheme | ABABAB CACDCD EFEEEF GHGHGH IAXAIA AJAJAJ AAAAAA AAAGAG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011 0111 11101 011 110101 1111 110101 11001 11101 011 110010 011 100101 0101 11011 1 111111 0111 11101 0101 10011 011 101101 0101 101101 1101 110100 1101 101111 0001 111101 11001 111101 1101 110101 1101 101011 1101 010111 1101 1101001 1111 010101 1101 110101 0111 110101 0111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 997 |
Words | 195 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 16 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 27, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 116 Views
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"Bon Voyage" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9950/bon-voyage>.
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