Analysis of Word-Snake-Play
John Joseph Hughes 1950 (Bethesda, Maryland)
Blue blood stones melt
stones waltz salt smelt
salt smelt snake flakes
salt spelled much at stake
trail time rhyme
trail of snails shine
shine in graveyard lines
shine in hellbent times
splendor's repose noted
splendor's birthmark reported
birthmark shaped star dimensions
birthmark traced in threaded needle
needle floats free off transatlantic water
needle bore borderline postern into hole
hole dug by mole attracts unsightly pole
hole drug by shovel survive to meet on-the-cheap
on-the-cheap steep leaps into frayed collars
on-the-cheap but to trade dimes for silver-dollars
silver-dollars to bury
silver-dollars hide inside jangling castanets
castanets for genesis of a truly interplanetary dance
castanets for a real renaissance of rude implanted pants
pants with big bony inseams
pants with its alterations in its last throes
throes that throw bones to moans
throes that bestow final yawns to dawns
dawns scar skin-lines to light
dawns squeak sand-stones into sounds
sounds thrive on Kelly green asparagus tips
sounds blush blue-tailed thrushes trill
trill these song a-lings to their natural waste-end
trill the bad comedians to smile at strong-men
strong-men wait until weights'-end to strut and preen
strong-men bait their breath and slay the ancient ways
ways gone past to half-staff to taps
ways done at last to prepare for collapse at last
last to know what must be known to all but he
last eyes to size suppurating loss and get lost
lost without places never been or seen
lost without a trace
trace all the way to inner space
trace in a dream of midnight dark
dark without a spark
dark without even a mark
mark my words birds
mark amazing confusions in maze
maze ripples subtle supple serpentine
maze marched into eternal single file
Word-Snake-Play
Scheme | AABCDEFGHHIJKLLMNNOBPQBRSTUVWXYZ1 2 3 4 O5 1 6 6 7 7 7 8 2 E9 0 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 1111 1111 11111 111 1111 1011 1011 10110 1110 111010 1101010 1011101010 101101011 1111010101 111100111101 1011101110 101111111010 1010110 101010111 11100101001001 110101110101 111101 1110100111 111111 110110111 111111 1111011 11110101001 1111101 111011110011 101010011111 11101111101 11111010101 11111111 111110110111 11111111111 111111011 1011010111 10101 11011101 1001111 10101 1011001 1111 101001001 110101010 1101010101 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,718 |
Words | 285 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 49 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,455 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 285 |
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Submitted by Bethesda_Bard_6850 on January 05, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 9 Views
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"Word-Snake-Play" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/59859/word-snake-play>.
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