Analysis of To a Steam Roller
Marianne Moore 1887 (Kirkwood) – 1972 (New York City)
The illustration
is nothing to you without the application.
You lack half wit. You crush all the particles down
into close conformity, and then walk back and forth on them.
Sparkling chips of rock
are crushed down to the level of the parent block.
Were not 'impersonal judment in aesthetic
matters, a metaphysical impossibility,' you
might fairly achieve
it. As for butterflies, I can hardly conceive
of one's attending upon you, but to question
the congruence of the complement is vain, if it exists.
| Scheme | AAXX BBXX CCAX |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 0010 11011010010 111111101001 011010001110111 10111 111101010101 01010010010 1000100001001 11001 11110111001 110100111110 010010100111101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
| Characters | 500 |
| Words | 87 |
| Sentences | 7 |
| Stanzas | 3 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 12 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 134 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 26 sec read
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"To a Steam Roller" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26365/to-a-steam-roller>.
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