Analysis of And The Rains Descended And The Floods Came
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
NOW the far waves roll nearer and more near,
The wind's awake, the pitiless wind's awake,
It shrieks the menace that I dare not hear,
Soon at my feet the angry waves will break
In desolating wrath--and here I stand
Helpless my house is built upon the sand.
O you, whose house upon a rock is set,
Laugh, safe and sure, at threatening wave and wind.
You chose the better part and yet--and yet,
There was no other ground that I could find,
And I was weary and I longed to raise
A house to guard my shivering nights and days.
And it was pleasant in the house I made,
While still the floods and winds were held asleep.
I blessed it at the dawn, at night I prayed
As though its dear foundations had been deep
Sunk in the rock. I whispered in surmise,
'What if winds never wake, floods never rise?'
And now the waves are near and very near,
And here I wait and wonder which may be
The wave in which my house will disappear,
My little house that loved and sheltered me,
Where joy still sings, her garland in her hand,
Built on the sand, oh God, built on the sand!
Scheme | ABXBCC DEDEFF GHGHII AJAJCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011110011 01010100101 1101011111 1111010111 0110111 1011110101 1111010111 11011100101 1101010101 1111011111 0111001111 01111100101 0111000111 1101010101 1111011111 1111010111 1001110001 1111011101 0101110101 0111010111 010111101 1101110101 1111010001 1101111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,040 |
Words | 209 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 204 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 108 Views
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