Analysis of The Golden Gourd

Harry Crosby 1898 (Boston) – 1929 (New York City)



What chance have snakes upon an asphalt road
When giant limousines go gliding by,
Of courtesans resolved to gratify
The lust of lovers seeking new abode?
I do not envy the unfriended toad
Nor airships falling from a marble sky
Nor mothers listening to their children cry
What chance have blades of grass on being mowed?

And yet the unmolested Sun rolls on
A ship of gold among the silver clouds
Or else a lady wrapped in silver shrouds
to mock the crescent moon's pale skeleton.

Which strengthens me to live with heart assured
For I have drunken from the golden gourd.


Scheme ABBAABBA XCCX XX
Poetic Form
Metre 111101111 110101101 1101110 0111010101 11110011 111010101 11010011101 1111111101 010010111 0111010101 1101010101 1101011100 1101111101 1111010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 563
Words 104
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 4, 2
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 154
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
108

Harry Crosby

Harry Lillis Crosby III is an American actor, singer, and investment banker. more…

All Harry Crosby poems | Harry Crosby Books

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