Analysis of Man Child
All day he lay upon the sand
When summer sun was bright,
And let the grains sift through his hand
With infantile delight;
Just like a child, so soft and fair,
Though he was twenty-five -
An innocent, my mother -care
Had kept so long alive.
Oh it is hard to bear a cross
For five-and-twenty years;
A daft son and a husband's loss
Are woes out-weighing tears.
Yet bright and beautiful was he,
Though barely could he walk;
And when he signaled out to sea
His talk was baby talk.
The man I loved was drowned out there
When we were ten weeks wed.
'Tis bitter hard a boy to bear
That's fathered by the dead.
And now I give my life to him
Because he needs me so;
And as I look my sight is dim
With pity, love and woe. . . .
Then suddenly I see him rise,
Tall, stalwart and serene . . .
Lo! There he stands before my eyes,
The man he might have been.
"Dear Mother mine," I hear him say,
"The curse that bound me fast,
Some miracle has swept away,
And all you pain is past.
Now I am strong and sane and free,
And you shall have your due;
For as you loved and cherished me,
I'll love and cherish you."
His kisses sooth away my pain,
His clasp is paradise . . .
Then - then I look at him again
With terror in my eyes:
For down he sinks upon the sand,
And heavy droops his head;
The golden grains drift through his hand . . .
I know - my boy is dead.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EXEXFGFG CHCHIJIJ KXKX LMLMFNFN XXXK AHAH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 110111 01011111 110001 11011101 111101 11001101 111101 11111101 110101 01100101 111101 11010011 110111 01110111 111101 01111111 110111 11010111 110101 01111111 011111 01111111 110101 11001111 110001 11110111 011111 11011111 011111 11001101 011111 11110101 011111 11110101 110101 11010111 11110 11111101 110011 11110101 010111 01011111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,304 |
Words | 269 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 4, 8, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 49 Views
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"Man Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32238/man-child>.
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