Analysis of The Day's Ration
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)
When I was born,
From all the seas of strength Fate filled a chalice,
Saying, This be thy portion, child; this chalice,
Less than a lily's, thou shalt daily draw
From my great arteries; nor less, nor more.
All substances the cunning chemist Time
Melts down into that liquor of my life,
Friends, foes, joys, fortunes, beauty, and disgust,
And whether I am angry or content,
Indebted or insulted, loved or hurt,
All he distils into sidereal wine,
And brims my little cup; heedless, alas!
Of all he sheds how little it will hold,
How much runs over on the desert sands.
If a new muse draw me with splendid ray,
And I uplift myself into her heaven,
The needs of the first sight absorb my blood,
And all the following hours of the day
Drag a ridiculous age.
To-day, when friends approach, and every hour
Brings book or starbright scroll of genius,
The tiny cup will hold not a bead more,
And all the costly liquor runs to waste,
Nor gives the jealous time one diamond drop
So to be husbanded for poorer days.
Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?
Why need I galleries, when a pupil's draught
After the master's sketch, fills and o'erfills
My apprehension? Why should I roam,
Who cannot circumnavigate the sea
Of thoughts and things at home, but still adjourn
The nearest matters to another moon?
Why see new men
Who have not understood the old?
Scheme | ABBCDEFGHIJKLMNOPNQRSDTUVWXBYZ1 2 3 L |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 11011111010 10111101110 110111101 1111001111 1100010101 1101110111 1111010001 0101110110 0101010111 1110111 011101101 1111110111 1111010101 1011111101 0110101010 0110110111 01010010101 1001001 111101010010 11111110 0101111011 0101010111 1101011101 11111101 1111011101 1111001011 100101101 10101111 1100010101 1101111101 0101010101 1111 1110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,317 |
Words | 246 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 34 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,049 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 244 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 56 Views
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