Analysis of The Masked Face
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
I found me in a great surging space,
At either end a door,
And I said: "What is this giddying place,
With no firm-fixéd floor,
That I knew not of before?"
"It is Life," said a mask-clad face.
I asked: "But how do I come here,
Who never wished to come;
Can the light and air be made more clear,
The floor more quietsome,
And the doors set wide? They numb
Fast-locked, and fill with fear."
The mask put on a bleak smile then,
And said, "O vassal-wight,
There once complained a goosequill pen
To the scribe of the Infinite
Of the words it had to write
Because they were past its ken."
Scheme | ABABBA XCDCCD EFEXFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111001101 110101 01111111 111111 1111101 11110111 11111111 110111 101011111 0111 0011111 110111 01110111 011101 1101011 10110100 1011111 0110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 573 |
Words | 119 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 145 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 141 Views
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