Analysis of Those Evil Few
With wealth, the likes of Helen's Troy,
There are these few that think they're coy—
They seem so modest, but I warn,
Their modesty is but a ploy.
They hung two 'thieves' the other morn.
In fact, the day my son was born.
Their crime? Some stolen fruit, some grain ...
Two homeless, hungry men forlorn.
I felt indignant, bitter pain,
As I stood watching through the rain.
If I were starving, like these two,
Would I steal food and thus be slain?
Who knows how many men they slew,
But here is this, and it is true,
That if they touched my starving son,
I'd grab a sword and run 'em through!
For by their greed their wealth was won—
Our wherewithal is nearly none.
Those evil few, so fatly fed,
Impoverished me and everyone!
And still the hungry hang there dead,
Condemned by laws those few have said.
And now my hunger has me torn:
Obey their laws, or steal their bread?
Scheme | AABA BBCB CCDC DDED EEFE FFBF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 11111111 11110111 11001101 11110101 01011111 11110111 11010101 11010101 11110101 11010111 11110111 11110111 11110111 11111101 11010111 11111111 10101101 1101111 0101010 01010111 01111111 01110111 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 876 |
Words | 189 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 110 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
About this poem
This is a poem that touches on the socioeconomic disparities that have plagued humans since time immemorial. My mind, while trying to paint this picture, clung to the High Middle Ages of Europe where the livelihood and survival of the peasantry class hung on the arbitrary and capricious whims of the lords who ruled over them. The stanza type employed here is modeled on that of the Rubaiyat.
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"Those Evil Few" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/140355/those-evil-few>.
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