Analysis of Grand-Father's Clock
Henry Clay Work 1832 (Middletown, Connecticut) – 1884 (Hartford, Connecticut)
My grand-father's clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor;
It was taller by half than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a penny weight more.
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride;
But it stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
Ninety years, without slumbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
His life seconds numbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
It stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
In watching its pendulum swing to and fro,
Many hours had he spent while a boy;
And in childhood and manhood the clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy.
For it struck twenty-four when he entered at the door,
With a blooming and beautiful bride;
But it stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
Ninety years, without slumbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
His life seconds numbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
It stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
My grandfather said that of those he could hire,
Not a servant so faithful he found;
For it wasted no time, and had but one desire --
At the close of each week to be wound.
And it kept in its place -- not a frown upon its face,
And its hands never hung by its side;
But it stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
Ninety years, without slumbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
His life seconds numbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
It stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
It rang an alarm in the dead of the night --
An alarm that for years had been dumb;
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight --
That his hour of departure had come.
Still the clock kept the time, with a soft and muffled chime,
As we silently stood by his side;
But it stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
Ninety years, without slumbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
His life seconds numbering (tick, tick, tick, tick)
It stopp'd short never to go again
When the old man died.
Scheme | ababxcDC EEDC fgfgbcDC EEDC hihixcDC EEDC jkjkxcDC EEDC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101111101 111101101 111011101101 111101011 1111011011111 01111001 1111101101 10111 101011001111 11101001111 111101101 10111 01011001101 1010111101 0010101111 011111011 1111011110101 101001001 1111101101 10111 101011001111 11101001111 111101101 10111 11011111110 101011011 1110110111010 101111111 0110111010111 011101111 1111101101 10111 101011001111 11101001111 111101101 10111 11101001101 101111111 01111101111 1110101011 1011011010101 111001111 1111101101 10111 101011001111 11101001111 111101101 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,963 |
Words | 385 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 191 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:58 min read
- 139 Views
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"Grand-Father's Clock" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17265/grand-father%27s-clock>.
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