Analysis of Love in Twilight
Stephen Vincent Benet 1898 (Bethlehem) – 1943 (New York City)
There is darkness behind the light -- and the pale light drips
Cold on vague shapes and figures, that, half-seen loom
Like the carven prows of proud, far-triumphing ships --
And the firelight wavers and changes about the room,
As the three logs crackle and burn with a small still sound;
Half-blotting with dark the deeper dark of her hair,
Where she lies, head pillowed on arm, and one hand curved round
To shield the white face and neck from the faint thin glare.
Gently she breathes -- and the long limbs lie at ease,
And the rise and fall of the young, slim, virginal breast
Is as certain-sweet as the march of slow wind through trees,
Or the great soft passage of clouds in a sky at rest.
I kneel, and our arms enlace, and we kiss long, long.
I am drowned in her as in sleep. There is no more pain.
Only the rustle of flames like a broken song
That rings half-heard through the dusty halls of the brain.
One shaking and fragile moment of ecstasy,
While the grey gloom flutters and beats like an owl above.
And I would not move or speak for the sea or the sky
Or the flame-bright wings of the miraculous Dove!
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH XIXI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1110010100111 11110101111 101111111 00110100101 1011100110111 110110101101 111111101111 110110110111 10110011111 0010110111001 1110110111111 1011101100111 110101101111 1110010111111 100101110101 111110101101 110010101100 1011100111101 0111111101101 101111001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,121 |
Words | 213 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 43 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 68 Views
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"Love in Twilight" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35799/love-in-twilight>.
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