Analysis of A Parable
Mathilde Blind 1841 (Mannheim) – 1896 (London)
BETWEEN the sandhills and the sea
A narrow strip of silver sand,
Whereon a little maid doth stand,
Who picks up shells continually
Between the sandhills and the sea.
Far as her wondering eyes can reach
A Vastness, heaving grey in grey
To the frayed edges where the day
Furls his red standard on the breach,
Between the skyline and the beach.
The waters of the flowing tide
Cast up the seapink shells and weed;
She toys with shells, and doth not heed
The ocean, which on every side
Is closing round her vast and wide.
It creeps her way as if in play,
Pink shells at her pink feet to cast;
But now the wild waves hold her fast,
And bear her off and melt away
A Vastness heaving gray in gray.
Scheme | AbbaA cddcc effee dggdd |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 0101001 01011101 1010111 111101000 0101001 110100111 01010101 10110101 11110101 0101001 01010101 1101101 11110111 010111001 11010101 11011101 11101111 11011101 01010101 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 697 |
Words | 135 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 136 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 82 Views
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"A Parable" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26953/a-parable>.
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