Analysis of The Signboard
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
I will paint you a sign, rumseller,
And hang it above your door;
A truer and better signboard
Than ever you had before.
I will paint with the skill of a master,
And many shall pause to see
This wonderful piece of painting,
So like the reality.
I will paint yourself, rumseller,
As you wait for that fair young boy,
Just in the morning of manhood,
A mother’s pride and joy.
He has no thought of stopping,
But you greet him with a smile
And you seem so blithe and friendly,
That he pauses a chat awhile.
I will paint you again, rumseller,
I will paint you as you stand,
With a foaming glass of liquor
Extended in your hand.
He wavers, but you urge him –
Drink, pledge me just this one!
And he takes the glass and drains it,
And the hellish work is done.
And next I will paint a drunkard –
Only a year has flown,
But into that loathesome creature
The fair young boy has grown.
The work was sure and rapid.
I will paint him as he lies
In a torpid, drunken slumber,
Under the wintry skies.
I will paint the form of the mother
As she kneels at her darling’s side,
Her beautiful boy that was dearer
Than all the world beside.
I will paint the shape of a coffin
Labelled with one word – ‘Lost’
I will paint all this, rumseller,
And will paint it free of cost.
The sin and the shame and the sorrow,
The crime and the want and the woe
That are born there in your workshop,
No hand can paint, you know
But I’ll paint you a sign, rumseller,
And many shall pause to view
This wonderful swinging signboard,
So terribly, fearfully true.
Scheme | AABAACDB AEBEDFCF ABABXGBG BHAHBIAI ABABXBAB AJXJAXBA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011 0110111 0100101 1101101 1111011010 0101111 11001110 11010 111011 11111111 1001011 010101 1111110 1111101 01111010 11100101 1111011 1111111 10101110 010011 111111 111111 01101011 0010111 01111010 100111 1011110 011111 0111010 1111111 00101010 100101 111011010 11110101 010011110 110101 111011010 101111 111111 0111111 010010010 01001001 1111011 111111 1111011 0101111 1100101 110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,543 |
Words | 298 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 196 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 65 Views
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"The Signboard" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10896/the-signboard>.
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