Analysis of Dialogue Under A Tree
Je Woo Han 2000 (Seoul)
Does the leaf know it’s being watched when it falls?
Gracefully drifting down,
gently, when it touches the water’s face.
A soft caress, gingerly stroking the pond’s cheek.
Connecting without disturbing the image,
preserving the visage of the tree.
Its descent reflects the timeless dignity
of both its host and ward.
Does it concern itself with the thirsty vagabond?
As it worriedly drifts towards his parched lips
desperately drinking from the pond’s edge,
carefully slowing his frantic guzzle to a calm sip?
Motherly instinct, a sympathetic act
towards a lost and wandering soul.
Dabbing the corner of his mouth
with tender frequency,
nudging him to take his time lest he chokes.
No, we do not know their nature.
For in a different light,
they were severed from home
and brought low to their demise.
They fall regardless of audience or witness.
They fall slowly to savor the vista,
one they will only glimpse for a moment.
They make no splash, nor a ripple,
for they are weak and in their death throes.
They look for comfort in a stranger,
because they fear confronting the end alone.
Only at the end, are they granted perspective.
We attribute virtue where it does not dwell.
The world was not created with such nobility in mind.
My need quenched, I briskly brushed the leaf aside.
When the water set, instead of my face,
I beheld the last leaves of summer.
Dancing on beckoning branches,
waiting their turn to ride the western wind.
Waving, as they take flight toward the blooming dusk.
Then I understood
and continued on.
Scheme | XXAXXBBX XXXXXXXBX CXXXX XXXXCX XXD XAC XDX XX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111101111 100101 1011100101 010110010011 01001010010 010010101 10101010100 111101 1101011010100 111101111 1000101011 10010110101011 1001000101 010101001 10010111 110100 1011111111 11111110 1001001 101011 0111101 110101100110 1110110010 1111011010 11111010 111100111 111100010 01110100101 101011110010 1101011111 011101011010001 11111010101 1010101111 11011110 10110010 1011110101 101111010101 1101 00101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,568 |
Words | 306 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 9, 5, 6, 3, 3, 3, 2 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 152 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
About this poem
I need this summer to end man.
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"Dialogue Under A Tree" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/163589/dialogue-under-a-tree>.
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