Analysis of Barcelona
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
The night before I left Milan
A mob jammed the Cathedral Square,
And high the tide of passion ran
As politics befouled the air.
A seething hell of human strife,
I shrank back from its evil core,
Seeing in this convulsive life
The living seeds of war.
To Barcelona then I came,
And oh the heavenly release!
From conflict and consuming flame
I knew the preciousness of peace.
Such veneration for the law!
How decorous was every one!
And then (significant) I saw
Each copper packed a tommy gun.
Well, maybe it is best that way.
Peace can mean more than liberty:
These people, state-directed, may
Be happier than those more free.
When politics wield evil grip,
And warring factions rise and fall,
Benevolent dictatorship
May be the answer, after all.
Scheme | XAXABCBC DEDEFGFG HIHIJKJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011101 01100101 01011101 110101 01011101 11111101 10010101 010111 1010111 01010001 11000101 110111 1010101 110011001 01010011 11010101 11011111 11111100 11010101 11001111 1101101 01010101 0100010 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 731 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 197 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 87 Views
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"Barcelona" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32003/barcelona>.
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