Analysis of What I Have Seen #4
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
I saw a youth, one of God's favored few,
Crowned with beauty, and talents, and health;
He had climbed the steep pathway, and cut his way through
To the summit of glory and wealth.
The day is breaking, hearts are waking,
Refreshed for the field of labor:
Arise, arise, like the king of the skies,
With a greeting for friend and neighbor.
He had toiled hard for the honors he'd won,
He had climbed over high rocks, forded streams;
Braved the bleak winter snow, the hot summer sun,
He was reaching the goal of his dreams.
The day hangs around us, the sun hath bound us
With fetters silken and yellow:
Flow, flow away, fleeting day,
Golden-hearted and mellow.
I saw the youth lift a mug to his mouth,
Drink the last drop of the fearful first glass!
Ah! his veins thrill in a fierce, scorching drouth,
He fills it again, again drinks it! alas!
The day is dying, hearts are sighing,
Crushed with a weight of sorrow:
Sleep, oh! sleep, in a slumber deep,
And wait for a bright to-morrow.
I saw him low in the dust at my feet,
Gone beauty, health, wealth, strength, talents, all;
From the summit of Fame to the slime of the street,
He had bartered his soul for the fiend Alcohol.
The night hangs o'er us, the wind's wild chorus
Shrieks like a demons' revel:
Weep, sob, weep, for the fog is deep,
And the world is sold to the devil.
Scheme | ABABCDXD EFEFGHXH XIBICHJH KXKXGLJL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111101 111001001 11101101111 101011001 011101110 01101110 0101101101 101011010 1111101011 111101111 10110101101 111001111 01101101111 11010010 1101101 1010010 1101101111 1011101011 1111001101 11101011101 011101110 1101110 11100101 01101110 1111001111 110111101 101011101101 11101110110 01110101110 1101010 11110111 001111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,299 |
Words | 250 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 253 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 32 Views
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"What I Have Seen #4" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10986/what-i-have-seen-%234>.
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