Analysis of To an Ungentle Critic
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
The great sun sinks behind the town
Through a red mist of Volnay wine....
But what’s the use of setting down
That glorious blaze behind the town?
You’ll only skip the page, you’ll look
For newer pictures in this book;
You’ve read of sunsets rich as mine.
A fresh wind fills the evening air
With horrid crying of night birds....
But what reads new or curious there
When cold winds fly across the air?
You’ll only frown; you’ll turn the page,
But find no glimpse of your “New Age
Of Poetry” in my worn-out words.
Must winds that cut like blades of steel
And sunsets swimming in Volnay,
The holiest, cruellest pains I feel,
Die stillborn, because old men squeal
For something new: “Write something new:
We’ve read this poem—that one too,
And twelve more like ’em yesterday”?
No, no! my chicken, I shall scrawl
Just what I fancy as I strike it,
Fairies and Fusiliers, and all
Old broken knock-kneed thought will crawl
Across my verse in the classic way.
And, sir, be careful what you say;
There are old-fashioned folk still like it.
Scheme | ABAACCB DEDDFFE GAGGHHI JKJJIIK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110101 1011111 10011101 110010101 11010111 11010011 1111111 01110101 11010111 111111001 11110101 11011101 11111111 110001111 11111111 011001 01001111 11101111 11011101 11110111 0111110 11110111 111101111 100101 11011111 011100101 01110111 111101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,058 |
Words | 187 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 199 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 74 Views
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"To an Ungentle Critic" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31210/to-an-ungentle-critic>.
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