Analysis of At Set of Sun
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
If we sit down at set of sun,
And count the things that we have done,
And counting, find
One self-denying act, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance, most kind,
That fell like sunshine where it went--
Then we may count that day well spent.
Or, on the other hand, if we,
In looking through the day, can see
A place or spot
Where we an unkind act put down,
Or where we smiled when wont to frown,
Or crushed some thought
That cumbered the heart--ground where it stood--
Then we may count that day as good.
But if, through all the life-long day,
We've eased no heart by yea or nay;
If through it all
We've done no thing that we can trace,
That brought the sunshine to a face--
No act most small
That helped some soul, and nothing cost--
Then count that day as worse than lost.
Scheme | AABCCBDD EEXFFXGG HHIJJIXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 01011111 0101 11010111 11011111 1111 1111111 11111111 11010111 01010111 0111 11101111 11111111 1111 11011111 11111111 11110111 11111111 1111 11111111 1101101 1111 11110101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 778 |
Words | 158 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 201 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 08, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 123 Views
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"At Set of Sun" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10537/at-set-of-sun>.
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