Analysis of Ships that Pass in the Night
Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing;
I look far out into the pregnant night,
Where I can hear the solemn booming gun
And catch the gleaming of a random light,
That tells me that the ship I seek
is passing, passing.
My tearful eyes my soul's deep hurt are glassing;
For I would hail and check that ship of ships.
I stretch my hands imploring, cry aloud,
My voice falls dead a foot from mine own lips,
And but its ghost doth reach that vessel, passing, passing.
O Earth, O Sky, O Ocean, both surpassing,
O heart of mine, O soul that dreads the dark!
Is there no hope for me? Is there no way
That I may sight and check that speeding bark
Which out of sight and sound is passing, passing?
Scheme | ABCBDAAEFEAAGHGA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10010111110 1111010101 1111010101 0101010101 11110111 11010 1101111111 1111011111 1111010101 1111011111 0111111101010 11111101010 1111111101 1111111111 1111011101 11110111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 720 |
Words | 139 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 538 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 137 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 106 Views
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"Ships that Pass in the Night" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28857/ships-that-pass-in-the-night>.
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