Analysis of New York at Night
Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)
A near horizon whose sharp jags
Cut brutally into a sky
Of leaden heaviness, and crags
Of houses lift their masonry
Ugly and foul, and chimneys lie
And snort, outlined against the gray
Of lowhung cloud. I hear the sigh
The goaded city gives, not day
Nor night can ease her heart, her anguished labours stay.
Below, straight streets, monotonous,
From north and south, from east and west,
Stretch glittering; and luminous
Above, one tower tops the rest
And holds aloft man's constant quest:
Time! Joyless emblem of the greed
Of millions, robber of the best
Which earth can give, the vulgar creed
Has seared upon the night its flaming ruthless screed.
O Night! Whose soothing presence brings
The quiet shining of the stars.
O Night! Whose cloak of darkness clings
So intimately close that scars
Are hid from our own eyes. Beggars
By day, our wealth is having night
To burn our souls before altars
Dim and tree-shadowed, where the light
Is shed from a young moon, mysteriously bright.
Where art thou hiding, where thy peace?
This is the hour, but thou art not.
Will waking tumult never cease?
Hast thou thy votary forgot?
Nature forsakes this man-begot
And festering wilderness, and now
The long still hours are here, no jot
Of dear communing do I know;
Instead the glaring, man-filled city groans below!
Scheme | ABAXBCBCC DEDEEFEFF GHGHIJIJJ KLKLXXLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111 11000101 110101 11011100 10010101 0110101 1111101 01010111 11110101011 01110100 11011101 11000100 01110101 01011101 1110101 11010101 11110101 110101110101 11110101 01010101 11111101 11000111 111101110 111011101 111010110 10110101 11101110001 11110111 110101111 11010101 111101 1011101 010010001 011101111 11010111 010101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,308 |
Words | 227 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 259 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 211 Views
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"New York at Night" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2262/new-york-at-night>.
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