Analysis of Domestic Scene
The meal was o'er, the lamp was lit,
The family sat in its glow;
The Mother never ceased to knit,
The Daughter never slacked to sew;
The Father read his evening news,
The Son was playing solitaire:
If peace a happy home could choose
I'm sure you'd swear that it was there.
"Ah me! this hard lump in my breast . . .
Old Doctor Brown I went to see;
Because it don't give me no rest,
He fears it may malignant be.
To operate it might be well,
And keep the evil of awhile;
But oh the folks I dare not tell,
And so I sit and knit and smile."
"The mortgage on the house is due,
My bank account is overdrawn;
I'm at my wits end what to do -
I've plunged, but now my hope is gone.
For coverage my brokers call,
But I'm so deeply in the red . . .
If ever I should lose my all,
I'll put a bullet in my head."
"To smile I do the best I can,
But it's so hard to act up gay.
My lover is a married man,
And now his child is on the way.
My plight I cannot long conceal,
And though I bear their bitter blame,
Unto my dears I must reveal
My sin, my sorrow and my shame."
"Being a teller in a Bank
I'd no right in a blackjack game.
But for my ruin I must thank
My folly for a floozie dame.
To face the Manager I quail;
If he should check my cash I'm sunk . . .
Before they throw me into gaol
I guess I'd better do a bunk."
So sat they in the Winter eve
In sweet serenity becalmed,
So peaceful you could scarce believe
They shared the torments of the damned . . .
Yet there the Mother smiles and knits;
The Daughter sews white underwear;
The Father reads and smokes and spits,
While Sonny Boy plays solitaire.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKLKL MNMNOPOP QPQPXRBR SXSXTDTD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011100111 01001011 01010111 01010111 01011101 0111001 11010111 11111111 11111011 11011111 01111111 11110101 1101111 01010101 11011111 01110101 01010111 11011101 11111111 11111111 11001101 11110001 11011111 11010011 11110111 11111111 11010101 01111101 11110101 01111101 10111101 11110011 10010001 1110011 11110111 1101011 11010011 11111111 01111011 11110101 11100101 01010001 11011101 1101101 11010101 0101110 01010101 1101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,597 |
Words | 335 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 198 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 66 Views
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"Domestic Scene" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32082/domestic-scene>.
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