Analysis of Compensation

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)



Why should I keep holiday,
When other men have none?
Why but because when these are gay,
I sit and mourn alone.

And why when mirth unseals all tongues
Should mine alone be dumb?
Ah! late I spoke to silent throngs,
And now their hour is come.


Scheme AXAX XBXB
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 111110 110111 11011111 110101 0111111 110111 11111101 0111011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 242
Words 49
Sentences 6
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 4
Lines Amount 8
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 94
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

14 sec read
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Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. more…

All Ralph Waldo Emerson poems | Ralph Waldo Emerson Books

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