Analysis of August
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
A day of torpor in the sullen heat
Of Summer's passion: In the sluggish stream
The panting cattle lave their lazy feet,
With drowsy eyes, and dream.
Long since the winds have died, and in the sky
There lives no cloud to hint of Nature's grief;
The sun glares ever like an evil eye,
And withers flower and leaf.
Upon the gleaming harvest-field remote
The thresher lies deserted, like some old
Dismantled galleon that hangs afloat
Upon a sea of gold.
The yearning cry of some bewildered bird
Above an empty nest, and truant boys
Along the river's shady margin heard--
A harmony of noise--
A melody of wrangling voices blent
With liquid laughter, and with rippling calls
Of piping lips and thrilling echoes sent
To mimic waterfalls.
And through the hazy veil the atmosphere
Has draped about the gleaming face of Day,
The sifted glances of the sun appear
In splinterings of spray.
The dusty highway, like a cloud of dawn,
Trails o'er the hillside, and the passer-by,
A tired ghost in misty shroud, toils on
His journey to the sky.
And down across the valley's drooping sweep,
Withdrawn to farthest limit of the glade,
The forest stands in silence, drinking deep
Its purple wine of shade.
The gossamer floats up on phantom wing;
The sailor-vision voyages the skies
And carries into chaos everything
That freights the weary eyes:
Till, throbbing on and on, the pulse of heat
Increases--reaches--passes fever's height,
And Day sinks into slumber, cool and sweet,
Within the arms of Night.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH AIXI JKJK XCXC LMLM NONO APAP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 0111000101 1101000101 0101011101 110101 1101110001 1111111101 0111011101 0101001 0101010101 0101010111 0101001101 010111 0101110101 0111010101 0101010101 010011 01001100101 11010011001 1101010101 11010 010101010 1101010111 0101010101 0111 010110111 1100100101 0101010111 110101 0101010101 0111010101 0101010101 110111 0100111101 0101010001 010011010 110101 1101010111 010101011 0110110101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,450 |
Words | 257 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 118 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 114 Views
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"August" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20835/august>.
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