Analysis of To Old Pup
To Old Pup
(on the farm long ago)
’Round and ’round and ’round
in a circle ’til he died
Old Pup walked
In the middle of the field
He’d found though he was blind
I guess he knew how to find it
It was one he’d chased odd sprites across many, many times
He stayed close to the house when he lost his sight
I’d feed him by hand
That day though, he’d refused the meat
Old Pup had his pride
He would not stay where he had ruled in prime
Or lay him down where he once guarded
Too weak and old to stop a fly
He’d left, farewell, without a sound
And found that field...
August sun’s heat rose in waves like cicadas’ buzz
No breeze, no leaves moved, no dust stirred
The fierce heat stilled the countryside
Light green mesquite, buff brown drying weed
The sky, heat faded blue, two small white clouds, utterly still
The only movement, a small tan dog
Going ’round and ’round in a circle
In a barren cottonfield
Looking for a place to die
(to the one he loved, who loved him back
he gave his loyal life, but hid from me his death
even now, his last, noble gift
wets my eyes and steals away my breath)
Scheme | XX ABX CXXX XXX B XXD AC XXBXX XXAD XEXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111 101101 10101 0010111 111 0010101 111111 11111111 11111110110101 11110111111 11111 11110101 11111 1111111101 111111110 11011101 1110101 0111 101110110101 11111111 0111010 11111101 01110111111001 010100111 101010010 00101 1010111 101111111 111101111111 10111101 111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,128 |
Words | 228 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 3, 4, 3, 1, 3, 2, 5, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 84 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
About this poem
as it happened
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Written on November 25, 2002
Submitted by steve-edwards on October 26, 2022
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 1:08 min read
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"To Old Pup" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/143853/to-old-pup>.
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