Analysis of The Dictator
George Hodgson 2003 (Birmingham)
The Dictator:
Ennui never ends.
Broken though it may be
By intervals of joy or grief,
It envelops all in its endless expanses,
mundane pastures, empty ranges
Fields upon fields of beige boredom.
Some hide from it in bottles others in the ponies
But no one ever escape it’s apathetic touch.
Royalty, fathers and mothers, teachers, doctors,
Lawyers and criminals, generals, ministers, all children of It.
The true equalizer. Etched into every parchment,
inscribed upon every face, sewn into every voice,
its melancholy song rings out over the world
and casts a drab pall upon all that inhabit it.
Every action committed and all thoughts conceived
Are only done with the permission of the Dictator.
Those still in their formative years live in peace
As no parent can ever break it to their child
Of the languor enforced by the dictator.
The lily-white soul of a child, the only light
In an otherwise black world, its essence
Yet to be tainted, plagued, infested, inhabited,
Corrupted, destroyed by its tedium.
They are the only voice of hope.
What good is the hope of a people through the voice of a child?
Still unsure in the world their first step is praised
But not the second or the third which are now
to be expected. Parents run from the dictator
leaving their child to face its brutality alone
the child fends for itself but soon succumbs to its
oppressive might and joins the legions
of unwitting followers. Another victim.
This elimination of childish innocence
Is lauded all around the world.
Instead of saving the innocent child
From the dictators groping touch
They instead celebrate and teach the
Once child to deal with their enforced position.
Beer and poker all around! Another drink!
Another vitiated soul.
Scheme | AXXXXXBXC XDXXEDXA XFAXGXBX FXXAXXXB GEFCXXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0010 010101 101111 11001111 101010110010 01101010 10111110 1111010100010 111100110101 100100101010 10010010010011011 0110010110010 010110011011001 11001111001 0101101110101 1001001001101 11011001010010 11011001101 111011011111 1010110010 010111010101 011011110 1111010100100 0100111100 11010111 111011010101101 10100111111 11010101111 1101010110010 1011111010001 011101110111 010101010 101010001010 10010110100 11010101 0111001001 10010101 10110010 11111101010 10101010101 01011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,730 |
Words | 322 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 277 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
About this poem
i wrote this poem whilst battling depression and anxiety in lockdown sso i hope you can see what i mean by "the dictator"
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"The Dictator" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/115901/the-dictator>.
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