Analysis of Falconry
Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)
A prince survives by unseen acts.
At night the chief advisor knocked
at Frederick's workroom in the tower
and found him formulating facts
for treatises on wingèd power
while his penman turned out text.
It was in this aerie room
he'd walked all night with her on arm,
turbulent and barely fledged.
Whatever plans then sprang to mind,
whatever fondness deeply chimed
in recollection he would trash
and tend the frightened and impassioned
thing he wished to understand.
Every night he made a time
for nothing but the young unhandled
animal. It was her staring
inborn mind he'd worked to learn,
so he was lofted with her grace
when she, the bird that nobles praise,
thrown gleaming from his hand (her wingbeats raised
into the heartfelt morning air)
and diving like an angel struck the hern.
Scheme | ABCACX XXXXXXXXXBXD XXXXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011011 11010101 11010010 0111001 110011110 1110111 1101101 11111011 1000101 1011111 1010101 0010111 010100010 111101 10011101 1101011 10011010 111111 1111101 11011101 110111011 0101101 0101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 776 |
Words | 138 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 12, 5 |
Lines Amount | 23 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 212 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 07, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 103 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Falconry" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29665/falconry>.
Discuss this Rainer Maria Rilke poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In