Analysis of The Resurrection

John Crowe Ransom 1888 (Pulaski) – 1974 (Gambier)



LONG, long before men die I sometimes read
Their stoic backs as plain as graveyard stones,
An epitaph of poor dead men indeed.
I never pass those old and crooked bones,
Ridden far down with burden and with age,
Stopping the headlong highway till they lean
Aside in honor of my equipage,
But I am sick and shamed that Heaven has been
So clumsy with the inelastic clay!
'What pretty piece of hope then have you spun,
My old defeated traveler,' I say,
'That keeps you marching on? For I have none.
I have looked often and I have not found
Old men bowed low who ever rose up sound.'


Scheme ABCBDEDFGHGHII
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111011 110111111 110111101 1101110101 1011110011 10011111 01010111 11110111011 110100101 1101111111 1101010011 1111011111 1111001111 1111110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 573
Words 114
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 452
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
114

John Crowe Ransom

John Crowe Ransom was an educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. more…

All John Crowe Ransom poems | John Crowe Ransom Books

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    Who wrote this? 'Look on my Works, ye Mightyand despair!'
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