Analysis of The Hawk and the Babe
Aleister Crowley 1875 (Leamington Spa) – 1947 (Hastings)
[Dedicated to Raymond Radclyffe]
I am that hawk of gold
Proud in adamantine poise
On the pillars of torqoise,
See,beyond the starry fold,
Where a darkling orb is rolled.
There, beneath a grove of yew,
Plays a babe. Should I despise
Such a foam of gold, and eyes
Burning beryline, so blue
That the sun seems peeping through?
Did I swwop, were Heaven amazed?
With my beak I strike but once;
Out there leap a million suns.
Through the universe that blazed
Screams theit light, and death is dazed.
In my womb the babe may leap;
Seek him not within my eye!
Nor demand thou of me why
I should plunge from crystal steep
Like a plummet to the deep!
See yon solitary star!
What a world of blackness wraps
Round it! Unimagined gaps!
Let it be! Content thy car
With the voyage to things that are!
Nor, an thou perchance behold
How I plunge and batten on
Earth's exentrate carrion,
Deem torquoise match midden-mould
Or deny the Hawk of Gold!
Scheme | X ABBAA CDDCC EXXEE FGGFF HIIHH AXXAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10001101 111111 1011 101011 10101 101111 1010111 1011101 1011101 10111 1011101 11101001 1111111 1110101 101011 1110111 0110111 1110111 1011111 1111101 1010101 111001 1011101 110101 1111011 10101111 1110101 1110101 11100 11111 1010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 907 |
Words | 174 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 104 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 28, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 121 Views
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