Analysis of The Dance of the Rain
Eugene Marais 1871 (Pretoria) – 1936 (Pelindaba)
Oh, the dance of our Sister!
First, over the hilltop she peeps stealthily
and her eyes are shy
and she laughs softly
From afar she begs with her one hand
her wrist-bands shimmering and her bead-work sparkling
softly she calls
She tells the wind about the dance
and she invites it, because the yard is spacious and the wedding large
The big game rush about the plains
they gather on the hilltop
their nostrils flared-up
and they swallow the wind
and they crouch to see her tracks in the sand
The small game, deep down under the floor, hear the rhythm of her feet
and they creep, come closer and sing softly
“Our Sister! Our Sister! You’ve come! You’ve come!”
and her bead-work shake,
and her copper wrist-bands shine in the disappearance of the sun
On her forehead, rests the eagle’s plume
She decends down from the hilltop
She spreads her ashened cloak with both arms
the breath of the wind disappears
Oh, the dance of our Sister!
Scheme | AbcbdefghijkldmbnopqjrsA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111010 11001111 00111 01110 101111011 011100001110 1011 11010101 01011010111000101 01110101 110101 11011 011001 0111101001 0111110011010101 0111100110 101010101111 00111 001011100010101 101010101 111101 11011111 0110101 10111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 925 |
Words | 171 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 738 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 168 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 93 Views
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