Analysis of I would not tarry if I could be gone

Joseph Seamon Cotter 1861 (Louisville) – 1949



I would not tarry if I could be gone
Adown the path where calls my eager mind.
That fate which knows naught but to grip and bind
Holds me within its grasp, a helpless pawn,
And checks my steps when I would travel on.
Forever shall my body lag behind,
And in this Valley with the Moaning Wind
Must I abide with never a glimpse of dawn?

Though bends my body toward the yawning sod,
I can endure the pain, the sorrows rife,
That hold me fast beneath their chastening rod,
If from this turmoil and this endless strife,
Comes there a light to lead Man nearer God,
And guide his footsteps toward the Larger Life.


Scheme ABBAXBBA CDCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 101111101 1111111101 1101110101 0111111101 0101110101 0011010101 11011100111 11110010101 1101010101 111101111 111101101 1101111101 0111010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 613
Words 118
Sentences 5
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 239
Words per stanza (avg) 58
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
78

Joseph Seamon Cotter

Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. was an American playwright, author and poet from Louisville, Kentucky most remembered for his posthumously published one-act play On The Fields of France in addition to numerous volumes of poetry. more…

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