Analysis of The Sprint
My friend's Mum owned a Mini
The paint was a vibrant lime green
So from where I sat by the window
His arrival would always be seen.
And when he and I were done playing
He'd be dragged back in to that car
I'd put on my shoes, and follow them out
With my Mum warning not to go far.
I'd wait for the engine to rumble to life
Stand there with my hands in my pockets
And when they started to drive away
I launched down the road like a rocket.
In that moment, I was the fastest alive
Wind in hair, feet slamming on ground
And when they drove too far to catch up
I'd pause for breath and turn round.
My friend leases a little white car now
And he wears a beard like a man
I'm a little less wild than I was as a child
When my sprints down the road first began
Yet still, when our grown up talks finish
I walk out to that well-worn position
As he gets in his car, I give him a smile
And wait for the rumbling ignition
When he moves, I move along with him
In that moment, I'm the fastest alive
With the wind in my hair, my feet on the ground
I wonder when he learned to drive
When all this change first erupted
Did it float in on some eastern breeze?
If I run fast enough, can I overtake time
For a second, and force it to freeze?
My questions all go on unanswered
As my friend speeds away out of sight
One day, I know I'll speed away too
It's a future I can't hope to fight.
Today, though, I don't think of leaving
Or the places I'll someday soon roam
I catch my breath, and I turn on my heel
And just like before, I run home.
Scheme | XAXA BCXC XXXX DEXE XFXF XGXG XDED XHXH XIXI BJXJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) Etheree (23%) |
Metre | 1111010 01101011 111111010 10101111 011010110 11110111 1111101011 111101111 11101011011 111110110 011101101 111011010 01101101001 10111011 011111111 1111011 1110010111 01101101 101011111101 111101101 1111011110 1111111010 11101111101 0110100010 111110111 0110101001 10101111101 11011111 1111110 111011101 11110111101 101001111 11011110 111101111 111111011 101011111 011111110 10101111 1111011111 01101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,533 |
Words | 332 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 117 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
About this poem
A reflection on growing up, and how some things never change.
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"The Sprint" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/184940/the-sprint>.
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