Analysis of Genoa
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
A long farewell to Genoa
That rises to the skies,
Where the barren coast of Italy
Like our own coastline lies.
A sad farewell to Genoa,
And long my heart shall grieve,
The only city in the world
That I was loath to leave.
No sign of rush or strife is there,
No war of greed they wage.
The deep cool streets of Genoa
Are rock-like in their age.
No garish signs of commerce there
Are flaunting in the sun.
A rag hung from a balcony
Is by an artist done.
And she was fair in Genoa,
And she was very kind,
Those pale blind-seeming eyes that seem
Most beautifully blind.
Oh they are sad in Genoa,
Those poor soiled singing birds.
I had but three Italian words
And she three English words.
But love is cheap in Genoa,
Aye, love and wine are cheap,
And neither leaves an aching head,
Nor cuts the heart too deep;
Save when the knife goes straight, and then
There’s little time to grieve—
The only city in the world
That I was loath to leave.
I’ve said farewell to tinted days
And glorious starry nights,
I’ve said farewell to Naples with
Her long straight lines of lights;
But it is not for Naples but
For Genoa that I grieve,
The only city in the world
That I was loath to leave.
Scheme | abcbadED fgagfhch aixiajjj akxkxdED xlxlxdED |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 0111100 110101 101011100 110111 0111100 011111 01010001 111111 11111111 111111 01111100 111011 11011101 110001 01110100 111101 01110100 011101 11110111 11001 11110100 111101 11110101 011101 11110100 110111 01011101 110111 11011101 110111 01010001 111111 1111101 0100101 1111101 011111 11111101 1100111 01010001 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,154 |
Words | 230 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 134 Views
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"Genoa" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17799/genoa>.
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