Analysis of Noctambule
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Zut! it's two o'clock.
See! the lights are jumping.
Finish up your bock,
Time we all were humping.
Waiters stack the chairs,
Pile them on the tables;
Let us to our lairs
Underneath the gables.
Up the old Boul' Mich'
Climb with steps erratic.
Steady . . . how I wish
I was in my attic!
Full am I with cheer;
In my heart the joy stirs;
Couldn't be the beer,
Must have been the oysters.
In obscene array
Garbage cans spill over;
How I wish that they
Smelled as sweet as clover!
Charing women wait;
Cafes drop their shutters;
Rats perambulate
Up and down the gutters.
Down the darkened street
Market carts are creeping;
Horse with wary feet,
Red-faced driver sleeping.
Loads of vivid greens,
Carrots, leeks, potatoes,
Cabbages and beans,
Turnips and tomatoes.
Pair of dapper chaps,
Cigarettes and sashes,
Stare at me, perhaps
Desperate Apachès.
"Needn't bother me,
Jolly well you know it;
Parceque je suis
Quartier Latin poet.
"Give you villanelles,
Madrigals and lyrics;
Ballades and rondels,
Odes and panegyrics.
Poet pinched and poor,
Pricked by cold and hunger;
Trouble's troubadour,
Misery's balladmonger."
Think how queer it is!
Every move I'm making,
Cosmic gravity's
Center I am shaking;
Oh, how droll to feel
(As I now am feeling),
Even as I reel,
All the world is reeling.
Reeling too the stars,
Neptune and Uranus,
Jupiter and Mars,
Mercury and Venus;
Suns and moons with me,
As I'm homeward straying,
All in sympathy
Swaying, swaying, swaying.
Lord! I've got a head.
Well, it's not surprising.
I must gain my bed
Ere the sun be rising;
When the merry lark
In the sky is soaring,
I'll refuse to hark,
I'll be snoring, snoring.
Strike a sulphur match . . .
Ha! at last my garret.
Fumble at the latch,
Close the door and bar it.
Bed, you graciously
Wait, despite my scorning . . .
So, bibaciously
Mad old world, good morning.
Scheme | ABAACDCD XEXEFGFG HIHIJGJG KBKBLMLM NONX PQCX CXCCXIXF OBCBRBRB STSTPBPB UBUBVBVB WQWQPARB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (26%) Etheree (26%) |
Metre | 11101 101110 10111 11101 10101 111010 111101 01010 10111 111010 10111 110110 11111 011011 10101 111010 00101 101110 11111 111110 1101 11110 11 101010 10101 101110 11101 111010 11101 101010 10001 100010 11101 01010 11101 1011 10101 101111 111 11010 111 100010 101 101 10101 111010 110 11 11111 1001110 101 101110 11111 111110 10111 101110 10101 100100 10001 100010 10111 111010 10100 101010 11101 111010 11111 101110 10101 001110 10111 111010 10101 111110 10101 101011 11100 10111 11 111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,760 |
Words | 318 |
Sentences | 38 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 80 |
Letters per line (avg) | 17 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 23, 2023
- 1:39 min read
- 123 Views
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"Noctambule" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32329/noctambule>.
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