Analysis of The Life Unlived
The life unlived is the dream deferred.
It does not resemble a withered piece of fruit
or the gross images of draining sores,
rotting meat, or pent-up postal worker
explosions. It will never crust over.
The dream deferred is an ordinary man
driving to work, shuttling the kids to school,
who, when he sits alone on the edge of his marriage bed, removes his wedding band and remembers
the boy he used to be and the boy he feared to love.
Scheme | XXXAA XXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110101 111010010111 1011001101 1011111010 0101110110 0101111001 10111000111 111101101111010111010010 0111110011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 438 |
Words | 86 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 4 |
Lines Amount | 9 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
About this poem
A gay man's riff on a Langston Hughes classic.
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Life Unlived" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/163004/the-life-unlived>.
Discuss this Jeremy S. Turner poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In