Analysis of Brooklyn Bridge



Eighteen sixty-nine to eighteen eighty-three,
Fourteen years and fifteen million dollars;
Twenty lives lost, strikes, scandals and cost overruns.
The Roeblings – engineers and overseers;
Father and then son and then daughter-in-law
   given to the bridge.

The first steel suspension bridge
With its two majestic stone towers
And gently sweeping cables ---
Four black, spun, ropes of steel
Coated with molten zinc,
Galvanized against the rust,
Hanging lofty between the narrow shoulders
Of the tall, looming stone towers.

These two giant imposing towers,
Built by stonemasons, stone by stone, brick by brick,
Standing twenty-eight stories above the river.
Caissons, sunk far below, hug the bedrock
And the sand to bear the tonnage of the towers;
These towers, standing like giants in relief,
Foreboding against the distant New York skyline.

Towers with ancient eyes encased in stone:
Tall, narrow, pointed, broken arches;
neo-Gothic portals, gallant gateways,
Mighty sentinels to the city.
This bridge, this grand historic Brooklyn Bridge,
With its medieval stone towers and silent steel cables;
Making its way for more than a mile across
   the East River

This bridge, as much a part of the American landscape
As the awesome castles and cathedrals
Are to the visitors of Europe.     


Scheme ABXBXC CBDXXXBB BXEXBXX XXXACDXE XDX
Poetic Form
Metre 01101101101 1110011010 10111100110 011010010 10011011001 10101 0110101 111010110 0101010 111111 101101 100101 10100101010 10110110 111001010 111111111 101011001010 101101101 001110101010 11010110001 01001010111 1011010101 110101010 101010101 101001010 1111010101 11010110010110 10111110101 0110 1111011001001 1010100010 110100110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,292
Words 225
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 8, 7, 8, 3
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 205
Words per stanza (avg) 40

About this poem

I have always been amazed by Brooklyn Bridge. I did a little research for this poem; so, it is part history, part architecture and part lyric study.

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Written on July 10, 2009

Submitted by jim.rainey on October 04, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:07 min read
39

Jim Rainey

I am a beginner poet from the Midwest. I write colloquial style; mainly blank verse, some rhyming. I write mainly from experience, but also, from make-believe. I always try to entertain. more…

All Jim Rainey poems | Jim Rainey Books

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