Analysis of Sleep
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Thou drowsy god, whose blurred eyes, half awink
Muse on me--, drifting out upon thy dreams,
I lave my soul as in enchanted streams
Where revelling satyrs pipe along the brink,
And tipsy with the melody they drink,
Uplift their dangling hooves, and down the beams
Of sunshine dance like motes. Thy languor seems
An ocean-depth of love wherein I sink
Like some fond Argonaut, right willingly--,
Because of wooing eyes upturned to mine,
And siren-arms that coil their sorcery
About my neck, with kisses so divine,
The heavens reel above me, and the sea
Swallows and licks its wet lips over me.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDCDCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111111 1111010111 1111100101 11110101 0101010011 10110010101 11111111 1101110111 111101100 011101111 0101111100 0111110101 0101011001 1001111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 585 |
Words | 105 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 467 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 103 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 117 Views
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"Sleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21022/sleep>.
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