Analysis of The Unreturning
Suddenly night crushed out the day and hurled
Her remnants over cloud-peaks, thunder-walled.
Then fell a stillness such as harks appalled
When far-gone dead return upon the world.
There watched I for the Dead; but no ghost woke.
Each one whom Life exiled I named and called.
But they were all too far, or dumbed, or thralled,
And never one fared back to me or spoke.
Then peered the indefinite unshapen dawn
With vacant gloaming, sad as half-lit minds,
The weak-limned hour when sick men's sighs are drained.
And while I wondered on their being withdrawn,
Gagged by the smothering Wing which none unbinds,
I dreaded even a heaven with doors so chained.
Scheme | ABBA CBAC DEFDEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001110101 0101011101 1101011101 1111010101 1111011111 111111101 1101111111 0101111111 110010011 1101011111 01110111111 01110111001 1101001111 110100101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 647 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 145 Views
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"The Unreturning" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 15 Mar. 2025. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38558/the-unreturning>.
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