Analysis of The Earth-Child in the Grass
Katherine Mansfield 1888 (Wellington) – 1923 (Fontainebleau, Île-de-France)
In the very early morning
Long before Dawn time
I lay down in the paddock
And listened to the cold song of the grass.
Between my fingers the green blades,
And the green blades pressed against my body.
"Who is she leaning so heavily upon me?"
Sang the grass.
"Why does she weep on my bosom,
Mingling her tears with the tears of my mystic lover?
Foolish little earth-child!
It is not yet time.
One day I shall open my bosom
And you shall slip in--but not weeping.
Then in the early morning
Long before Dawn time
Your lover will lie in the paddock.
Between his fingers the green blades
And the green blades pressed against his body...
My song shall not sound cold to him
In my deep wave he will find the wave of your hair
In my strong sweet perfume, the perfume of your kisses.
Long and long he will lie there...
Laughing--not weeping."
Scheme | aBcdeffdghibgaaBcefjklka |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 00101010 10111 1110010 0101011101 01110011 0011101110 111101100011 101 11111110 10001101111010 101011 11111 111110110 011101110 1001010 10111 110110010 01110011 0011101110 11111111 011111101111 0111010011110 1011111 10110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 818 |
Words | 161 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 648 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 157 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 46 Views
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"The Earth-Child in the Grass" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25142/the-earth-child-in-the-grass>.
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