Analysis of The Donkey
Gilbert Keith Chesterton 1874 (Kensington, London) – 1936 (Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire)
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood,
Then surely I was born;
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
| Scheme | XAXA XBXB XCXC XDXD |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain |
| Metre | 11010101 011011 11010111 110111 110101001 011101 01010100 111101 0101101 110101 11011111 111101 111101110 1111001 11010111 010111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 493 |
| Words | 91 |
| Sentences | 5 |
| Stanzas | 4 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 16 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 95 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 28, 2023
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"The Donkey" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15994/the-donkey>.
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