Analysis of The Cupboard

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



Mother: What's in that cupboard, Mary?
Mary: Which cupboard, mother dear?
Mother: The cupboard of red mahogany
With handles shining clear.
Mary: That cupboard, dearest mother,
With shining crystal handles?
There's nought inside but rags and jags
And yellow tallow candles.
Mother: What's in that cupboard, Mary?
Mary: Which cupboard, mother mine?
Mother: That cupboard stands in your sunny chamber,
The silver corners shine.
Mary: There's nothing there inside, mother,
But wool and thread and flax,
And bits of faded silk and velvet
And candles of white wax.
Mother: What's in that cupboard, Mary?
And this time tell me true.
Mary: White clothes for an unborn baby, mother..
But what's the truth to you?


Scheme AbabcdedAfcfcghgAici
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Etheree  (20%)
Metre 101011010 10110101 10010110100 110101 101101010 1101010 11011101 0101010 101011010 10110101 101101011010 010101 1011010110 110101 011101010 010111 101011010 011111 101111111010 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 692
Words 116
Sentences 14
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 548
Words per stanza (avg) 114
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
76

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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