Analysis of Sign-Post

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



Civilized, crying: how to be human again; this will tell you how.
Turn outward, love things, not men, turn right away from humanity,
Let that doll lie. Consider if you like how the lilies grow,
Lean on the silent rock until you feel its divinity
Make your veins cold; look at the silent stars, let your eyes
Climb the great ladder out of the pit of yourself and man.
Things are so beautiful, your love will follow your eyes;
Things are the God; you will love God and not in vain,
For what we love, we grow to it, we share its nature. At length
You will look back along the star's rays and see that even
The poor doll humanity has a place under heaven.
Its qualities repair their mosaic around you, the chips of strength
And sickness; but now you are free, even to be human,
But born of the rock and the air, not of a woman.

Submitted by Holt


Scheme XAXABXBXCXDCDD X
Poetic Form
Metre 1010111100111111 1101111110110100 111101011110101 110101011110100 1111110101111 10110110110101 1111001111011 110111110101 111111111111011 11110101101110 01101001011010 11000110100110111 01011111101110 1110100111010 01011
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 835
Words 165
Sentences 7
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 14, 1
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 43
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 326
Words per stanza (avg) 82
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 06, 2023

49 sec read
74

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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