Analysis of Cleopatra.
Robert Crawford 1959 (Bellshill)
The asp, her baby, on her breast,
She falls asleep,
Ever, like Antony, to rest
While Nile shall keep
Its course, and Egypt be a name
Whose utterance stirs
The shadow on the Roman's fame,
His love and hers.
Out of the mire and mirth of Time,
By thought removed,
The life that might have shone sublime,
Nor unbeloved —
A doting mallard when her sail
From Actium flew,
He knew her love was, passion-pale,
The sword that slew!
Ah! even though her love was lust,
The swarthy Queen,
When her babe gave the mortal thrust,
A woman's mien
Wore, as her Circean eyes their last
Looked on the slave
And with her fatal witchery passed
Into the grave.
She yet shall stand in Beauty's list
A thing superb,
The Roman's light in Egypt's mist —
A lover's verb
That through his moods and tenses toned
A royal way,
And took Death rather than be loaned
To Caesar's sway.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEAGHGHIJIJKLKLMNMNOPOP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010101 1101 10110011 1111 11010101 11001 0110101 1100 11010111 1101 01111101 11 01010101 111 11011101 0111 11010111 0101 10110101 0101 1101111 1101 0101011 0101 1111011 0101 01010101 0101 1111011 0101 01110111 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 830 |
Words | 161 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 32 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 656 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 159 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
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"Cleopatra." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30645/cleopatra.>.
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