Analysis of Alexandrian Kings
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
The Alexandrians were gathered
to see Cleopatra's children,
Caesarion, and his little brothers,
Alexander and Ptolemy, whom for the first
time they lead out to the Gymnasium,
there to proclaim kings,
in front of the grand assembly of the soldiers.
Alexander -- they named him king
of Armenia, Media, and the Parthians.
Ptolemy -- they named him king
of Cilicia, Syria, and Phoenicia.
Caesarion stood more to the front,
dressed in rose-colored silk,
on his breast a bouquet of hyacinths,
his belt a double row of sapphires and amethysts,
his shoes fastened with white
ribbons embroidered with rose pearls.
Him they named more than the younger ones,
him they named King of Kings.
The Alexandrians of course understood
that those were theatrical words.
But the day was warm and poetic,
the sky was a light azure,
the Alexandrian Gymnasium was
a triumphant achievement of art,
the opulence of the courtiers was extraordinary,
Caesarion was full of grace and beauty
(son of Cleopatra, blood of the Lagidae);
and the Alexandrians rushed to the ceremony,
and got enthusiastic, and cheered
in greek, and egyptian, and some in hebrew,
enchanted by the beautiful spectacle --
although they full well knew what all these were worth,
what hollow words these kingships were.
Scheme | AXBXXCB DBDXXXXBXXXC XX XEXXFFAFXXXXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010 1101010 1011010 01001001101 1111100100 11011 011010101010 0101111 10100100001 1001111 10101000010 111101 101101 1110011100 110101110001 111011 10010111 111110101 111111 011101 11001001 101110010 0110110 0101001 001001011 01001010010100 11111010 110101101 001110100 01001001 01001001010 01010100100 1111111101 1101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,236 |
Words | 210 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 12, 2, 13 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 253 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 73 Views
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