Analysis of In Broken Images

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



He is quick, thinking in clear images;
I am slow, thinking in broken images.

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;
I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;
Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;
Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;
When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;
I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.

He in a new confusion of his understanding;
I in a new understanding of my confusion.


Scheme AA AA BB CC DD AA XX
Poetic Form Couplet 
Metre 1111001100 11110010100 101110111100 1011010110100 1011001011100 01011001101100 010110010101 100110011001 10111110110 10111101110 1010101011100 10101010110100 100101011010 100101011010
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 644
Words 111
Sentences 8
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 73
Words per stanza (avg) 16
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

33 sec read
184

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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