Analysis of Hobo
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
A father's pride I used to know,
A mother's love was mine;
For swinish husks I let them go,
And bedded with the swine.
Since then I've come on evil days
And most of life is hell;
But even swine have winsome ways
When once you know them well.
One time I guessed I'd cease to roam,
And greet the folks again;
And so I rode the rods to home
And through the window pane
I saw them weary, worn and grey . . .
I gazed from the garden gloom,
And like sweet, shiny saints were they
Int taht sweet, shiny room.
D'ye think I hollored out: "Hullo!"
The prodigal to play,
And eat the fatted calf? Ah no,
I cursed and ran away.
My eyes were blears of whisky tears
As to a pub I ran:
But once at least I beat the beast
And proved myself a man.
Oh, some day I am going back,
But I'll have gold galore;
I'll wear a suit of sobber black
And knock upon the door.
I'l tell them how I've made a stake,
We'll have the grandest time. . . .
"Say, Mister, give a guy a break:
For Chrissake, spare a dime."
Scheme | ABABCDCD EXEXFGFG DFAFXHXH IJIJKLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011111 010111 1111111 010101 11111101 011111 11011101 111111 11111111 010101 01110111 010101 11110101 1110101 01110101 111101 1111111 010011 0101111 110101 11011101 110111 11111101 01101 11111101 111101 1101111 010101 111111101 110101 11010101 11101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 958 |
Words | 201 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 182 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 51 Views
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"Hobo" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32170/hobo>.
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