Analysis of Free Verse
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
I now delight
In spite
Of the might
And the right
Of classic tradition,
In writing
And reciting
Straight ahead,
Without let or omission,
Just any little rhyme
In any little time
That runs in my head;
Because, I’ve said,
My rhymes no longer shall stand arrayed
Like Prussian soldiers on parade
That march,
Stiff as starch,
Foot to foot,
Boot to boot,
Blade to blade,
Button to button,
Cheeks and chops and chins like mutton.
No! No!
My rhymes must go
Turn ’ee, twist ’ee,
Twinkling, frosty,
Will-o’-the-wisp-like, misty;
Rhymes I will make
Like Keats and Blake
And Christina Rossetti,
With run and ripple and shake.
How pretty
To take
A merry little rhyme
In a jolly little time
And poke it,
And choke it,
Change it, arrange it,
Straight-lace it, deface it,
Pleat it with pleats,
Sheet it with sheets
Of empty conceits,
And chop and chew,
And hack and hew,
And weld it into a uniform stanza,
And evolve a neat,
Complacent, complete,
Academic extravaganza!
Scheme | AAAABCCDBEEDDFFGGHIFBBJJKKKLLKLKLEEMMMMNNNOOPQQP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101 01 101 001 110010 010 0010 101 0111010 110101 010101 11011 0111 111101101 11010101 11 111 111 111 111 10110 10101110 11 1111 1111 10010 1101110 1111 1101 0010010 1101001 110 11 010101 0010101 011 011 11011 111011 1111 1111 1101 0101 0101 0110101010 00101 01001 0100010 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 961 |
Words | 170 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 48 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 15 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 740 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 168 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 1,239 Views
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"Free Verse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31123/free-verse>.
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