Analysis of In the Wilderness
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
Christ of His gentleness
Thirsting and hungering,
Walked in the wilderness;
Soft words of grace He spoke
Unto lost desert-folk
That listened wondering.
He heard the bitterns call
From ruined palace-wall,
Answered them brotherly.
He held communion
With the she-pelican
Of lonely piety.
Basilisk, cockatrice,
Flocked to his homilies,
With mail of dread device,
With monstrous barbéd slings,
With eager dragon-eyes;
Great rats on leather wings
And poor blind broken things,
Foul in their miseries.
And ever with Him went,
Of all His wanderings
Comrade, with ragged coat,
Gaunt ribs—poor innocent—
Bleeding foot, burning throat,
The guileless old scapegoat;
For forty nights and days
Followed in Jesus’ ways,
Sure guard behind Him kept,
Tears like a lover wept.
Scheme | ABACCBDDEFFEAGHIJIIGKILMLLNNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111100 10100 100100 111111 101101 110100 11011 110101 101100 11010 101100 110100 11 111100 111101 110111 110101 111101 011101 101100 010111 111100 11101 111100 101101 01011 110101 100101 110111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 767 |
Words | 120 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 609 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 118 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 07, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 223 Views
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