Analysis of On The Death Of Smet-Smet, The Hippopotamus- Goddess
Rupert Brooke 1887 (Rugby) – 1915 (Aegean Sea)
Song of a tribe of the ancient Egyptians
(The Priests within the Temple)
She was wrinkled and huge and hideous? She was our Mother.
She was lustful and lewd? -- but a God; we had none other.
In the day She was hidden and dumb, but at nightfall moaned in the shade;
We shuddered and gave Her Her will in the darkness; we were afraid.
(The People without)
She sent us pain,
And we bowed before Her;
She smiled again
And bade us adore Her.
She solaced our woe
And soothed our sighing;
And what shall we do
Now God is dying?
(The Priests within)
She was hungry and ate our children; -- how should we stay Her?
She took our young men and our maidens; -- ours to obey Her.
We were loathed and mocked and reviled of all nations; that was our pride.
She fed us, protected us, loved us, and killed us; now She has died.
(The People without)
She was so strong;
But death is stronger.
She ruled us long;
But Time is longer.
She solaced our woe
And soothed our sighing;
And what shall we do
Now God is dying?
Scheme | x xaabb CxaxaDEFE xaagg ChahaDEFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011010010 0101010 1110010100111010 11100110111110 0011110011111001 1100100100101001 01001 1111 011010 1101 011010 11101 011010 01111 11110 0101 111001101011110 11101101010101010 10101001111011101 1110101110111111 01001 1111 11110 1111 11110 11101 011010 01111 11110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,165 |
Words | 197 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 5, 9, 5, 9 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 151 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 125 Views
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"On The Death Of Smet-Smet, The Hippopotamus- Goddess" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33709/on-the-death-of-smet-smet%2C-the-hippopotamus--goddess>.
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