Analysis of Sequel to Grandfather's Clock

Henry Clay Work 1832 (Middletown, Connecticut) – 1884 (Hartford, Connecticut)



Once again have I roamed thro' the old-fashioned house,
Where my grandfather spent his ninety years.
There are strangers in charge, and the change they have wrought--
Oh! it saddens me, even to tears.
Dear old clock! when they found you were speechless from grief,
Then they went and swapped you off, case and all.
For that vain, stuck-up thing
(tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick),
For that vain, stuck-up thing on the wall.

Grandfather sleeps in his grave;
Strange steps resound in the hall!
And there's that vain, stuck-up thing
(tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick),
There's that vain, stuck-up thing on the wall.

While we talked of the old clock they all ran it down.
Tho' they claimed that it couldn't be made to run.
It was useless they said-- it was quite out of style;
Built, no doubt, just about the year One.
And the words echoed round, with a faint, mocking sound,
As if some one gave assent to it all;
'Twas that vain, stuck-up thing
(tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick),
'Twas that vain, stuck-up thing on the wall.

From the clock-peddler's cart in the junk-shop it went,
Where its cog-wheels were sundered one be one;
And the brass-founder joked as they writhed in the flames--
"Melt'em up," says he; "then they will run."
There is grief in my heart, there are tears in my eyes.
Yet indignantly the sight I recall
Of that vain, stuck-up thing
(tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick),
For that vain, stuck-up thing on the wall.

"An extremely hard case!" said the junk-dealer's wife,
As she carried it for kindling wood and sighed--
That mahogany case, with its quaint, figured face,
Which so long was my grandfather's pride.
"There is hope for the small; there's a change for us all;
For the mighty ones of Time, they must fall!"
Says that vain, stuck-up thing
(tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick),
Says that vain, stuck-up thing on the wall.


Scheme xxxxxabCA xabCa xdxdxabCa xdxdxabCA xexeaabCa
Poetic Form
Metre 101111101101 111011101 111001001111 111011011 111111101011 1110111101 111111 11111111 111111101 101011 111001 0111111 11111111 111111101 111101111111 11111101111 111011111111 111101011 001101101101 1111101111 111111 11111111 111111101 10111001111 111101111 001101111001 111111111 111011111011 101000111 111111 11111111 111111101 101011101101 11101110101 101001111101 11111101 111101101111 1010111111 111111 11111111 111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,880
Words 344
Sentences 20
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 9, 5, 9, 9, 9
Lines Amount 41
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 285
Words per stanza (avg) 68
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:44 min read
75

Henry Clay Work

Henry Clay Work was an American composer and songwriter. more…

All Henry Clay Work poems | Henry Clay Work Books

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