Analysis of Imagination
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
A gaunt and hoary slab of stone
I found in desert place,
And wondered why it lay alone
In that abandoned place.
Said I: 'Maybe a Palace stood
Where now the lizards crawl,
With courts of musky quietude
And turrets tall.
Maybe where low the vultures wing
'Mid mosque and minaret,
The proud pavilion of a King
Was luminously set.
'Mid fairy fountains, alcoves dim,
Upon a garnet throne
He ruled,--and now all trace of him
Is just this stone.
Ah well, I've done with wandering,
But from a blousy bar
I see with drunk imagining
A Palace like a star.
I build it up from one grey stone
With gardens hanging high,
And dream . . . Long, long ere Babylon
It's King was I.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGAGA EHEHAIXI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111 110101 01011101 010101 11100101 110101 111101 0101 10110101 11001 01010101 111 1101011 010101 11011111 1111 11111100 11011 11110100 010101 11111111 110101 0111110 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 736 |
Words | 126 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 170 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 15, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 42 Views
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"Imagination" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32181/imagination>.
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