Analysis of A Brief Moment of Remembrance : In Memory of Anna Politkovskaya (1958-7th Oct. 2006)
When Brian Haw, that stubborn weather-beaten figure,
scourge of the parliamentary warmongers
and all of us who by our mere indifference
are in some small way complicit in torture,
dressed in his usual hard hat
studded with dozens of badges of peace,
stepped forward with a single purple petal
and placed it carefully on the ground
at the Innocent Victims Memorial
near the West Door of Westminster Abbey
beside the photos of the beautiful face
of Anna Politkovskaya,
gunned down for heeding her conscience
and ever daring to expose the truth,
it meant far more than all the expensive wreaths
and all the sincere speeches in her remembrance
spoken here so far from her native land,
most of them drowned in the din of London traffic
on that hot October day in Ramadan,
a brief moment for some to consider
the transience of life, selfless love,
and the inhuman and ever
enduring depravity of man,
and when dear Vanessa placed a finger to her lips
and blew you a gentle kiss,
all eyes in that small crowd were filled with tears.
Scheme | ABBACBDEDFBGBHBBIJKALAMBBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110101010 11001001 0111111010100 10111010010 10110011 1011011011 11010101010 011100101 10100100100 101111010 0101101001 1101 11110010 0101010101 11111100101 010011000010 1011110101 111100111010 11101010100 0110111010 010011101 00010010 010010011 0110101010101 0110101 1101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,024 |
Words | 191 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 830 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 181 |
About this poem
This poem, a protest against war, was written about a memorial service for the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated for exposing the truth about the Chechen war. The service took place beside Westminster Abbey at 13.30 hrs, on 13 October 2006, six days after her death. Vanessa is the actress Vanessa Redgrave. The reporter Jon Snow was also there.
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"A Brief Moment of Remembrance : In Memory of Anna Politkovskaya (1958-7th Oct. 2006)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/145459/a-brief-moment-of-remembrance-%3A-in-memory-of-anna-politkovskaya-%281958-7th-oct.-2006%29>.
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