Analysis of Suppose
Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)
Suppose ... and suppose that a wild little Horse of Magic
Came cantering out of the sky,
With bridle of silver, and into the saddle I mounted,
To fly — and to fly;
And we stretched up into the air, fleeting on in the sunshine,
A speck in the gleam,
On galloping hoofs, his mane in the wind out-flowing,
In a shadowy stream;
And oh, when, all lone, the gentle star of evening
Came crinkling into the blue,
A magical castle we saw in the air, like a cloud of moonlight,
As onward we flew;
And across the green moat on the drawbridge we foamed and we snorted,
And there was a beautiful Queen
Who smiled at me strangely; and spoke to my wild little Horse, too —
A lovely and beautiful Queen;
And she cried with delight — and delight — to her delicate maidens,
'Behold my daughter — my dear!'
And they crowned me with flowers, and then to their harps sate playing,
Solemn and clear;
And magical cakes and goblets were spread on the table;
And at window the birds came in;
Hopping along with bright eyes, pecking crumbs from the platters,
And sipped of the wine;
And splashing up — up to the roof tossed fountains of crystal;
And Princes in scarlet and green
Shot with their bows and arrows, and kneeled with their dishes
Of fruits for the Queen;
And we walked in a magical garden with rivers and bowers,
And my bed was of ivory and gold;
And the Queen breathed soft in my ear a song of enchantment —
And I never grew old....
And I never, never came back to the earth, oh, never and never;
How mother would cry and cry!
There'd be snow on the fields then, and all these sweet flowers in the winter
Would wither, and die....
Suppose ... and suppose .
Scheme | XAXA BCDC DEXE XFEF XGDG HXIB HFXF IJXJ KAKA X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01001101101110 111101 110110001010110 11011 01110101101001 01001 1100111001110 001001 011110101110 110101 0100101100110111 11011 001011101110110 01101001 111110011111011 01001001 0111010011010010 0111011 011111001111110 1001 0100101011010 01100110 10011111011010 01101 01011101110110 01001001 1111010011110 11101 0110010010110010 0111110001 00111011011010 011011 01101011101110010 1101101 11110110111100010 11001 01001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,629 |
Words | 314 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 126 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 117 Views
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"Suppose" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38307/suppose>.
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