Analysis of Sonnet 02
Alan Seeger 1888 (New York City) – 1916
Not that I always struck the proper mean
Of what mankind must give for what they gain,
But, when I think of those whom dull routine
And the pursuit of cheerless toil enchain,
Who from their desk-chairs seeing a summer cloud
Race through blue heaven on its joyful course
Sigh sometimes for a life less cramped and bowed,
I think I might have done a great deal worse;
For I have ever gone untied and free,
The stars and my high thoughts for company;
Wet with the salt-spray and the mountain showers,
I have had the sense of space and amplitude,
And love in many places, silver-shoed,
Has come and scattered all my path with flowers.
Scheme | ABAACDCEFFGHCG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111110101 1111111111 1111111101 00011111 11111100101 1111011101 1011011101 1111110111 1111010101 0101111100 11011001010 1110111010 0101010101 11010111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 638 |
Words | 118 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 500 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 116 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 99 Views
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"Sonnet 02" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/315/sonnet-02>.
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