Analysis of The Temple

Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)



Between us leapt a gold and scarlet flame.
Into the hollow of the cupped, arched blue
Of Heaven it rose. Its flickering tongues up-drew
And vanished in the sunshine. How it came
We guessed not, nor what thing could be its name.
From each to each had sprung those sparks which flew
Together into fire. But we knew
The winds would slap and quench it in their game.
And so we graved and fashioned marble blocks
To treasure it, and placed them round about.
With pillared porticos we wreathed the whole,
And roofed it with bright bronze. Behind carved locks
Flowered the tall and sheltered flame. Without,
The baffled winds thrust at a column's bole.


Scheme ABBAABBACDECDE
Poetic Form
Metre 0111010101 0101010111 110111100111 010001111 1111111111 1111111111 0100110111 0111011011 0111010101 1101011101 11011101 0111110111 1001010101 010111011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 640
Words 117
Sentences 11
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 514
Words per stanza (avg) 115
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

35 sec read
149

Amy Lowell

Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. more…

All Amy Lowell poems | Amy Lowell Books

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