Analysis of The Raven Chides Its Own Blackness
A satiric tale.
Is this tale of parable.
Warped in irony.
Oh, the cruelty.
Weapons of mass destruction.
Oh, what disaster!
Oh, what a glory.
Weapons for our protection.
What satisfaction!
A voice of reason.
When will we cease from warfare?
A voice soon hushed up.
A voice that questions.
When will we stop bickering?
A voice of treason.
Oh, the irony!
Logistics of cold warfare.
Pot calls kettle black.
Your own projection.
All this calls for reflection.
What you choose to see.
While our pot is black.
Their kettle may be polished.
Both yet filled with soot.
Beware of splinters.
Our living in glass houses.
We mustn’t throw stones.
What hypocrisy!
The raven chides its blackness.
Ask William Shakespeare.
A satiric tale.
Is this tale of parables.
Warped in irony.
| Scheme | AxB bcx bcc cdx exc bdf ccb fxx exx bxx AxB |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 00101 1111100 10100 1010 1011010 11010 11010 10110010 1010 01110 111111 01111 01110 1111100 01110 10100 010111 11101 11010 1111010 11111 110111 1101110 11111 0111 10100110 1111 10100 0101110 1101 00101 1111100 10100 |
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 777 |
| Words | 173 |
| Sentences | 33 |
| Stanzas | 11 |
| Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
| Lines Amount | 33 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
| Words per line (avg) | 4 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 54 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 12 |
About this poem
Warped in irony: Though not expressively verbatim, the phrase “the raven chides its own blackness” was employed by William Shakespeare, the bard of Avon, in an offhand indirect manner, in the play of “Troilus and Cressida,” as a signal of hypocrisy of the highest form. This poem invites us, as a human race of Homo sapiens, to examine critically the public persona we carry, and along with it the projections we often cast on others and on other societies when we chide their own personas, public or private. To intensify self-examination and reflection, this poem is written in the form of an inclusio, with the first and last stanzas of the poem echoing the core message of hypocrisy that the poem conveys satirically, with the proverbial raven chiding its own blackness that it projects on others. more »
Written on February 03, 2022
Submitted by karlcfolkes on February 03, 2022
Modified on April 21, 2023
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"The Raven Chides Its Own Blackness" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/119079/the-raven-chides-its-own-blackness>.
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