Analysis of Old Scout
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Is it because I'm bent and grey,
Though wearing rather well,
That I can slickly get away
With all the yarns I tell?
Is it because my bleary eye
No longer beams with youth
That I can plant a whopping lie,
And flout the truth?
I wonder why folks hark to me
Where once they would have laughed?
They treat my yarns respectfully,
No matter how they're daft.
They count the notches on my gun
And stroke its polished butt,
Wanting to know why every one
Of them was cut.
Indeed were I to stick to fact
Their interest would flag;
Dramatically I must act
The rôle of scalliwag;
A battle veteran to be,
A frozen argonaut,
A castaway in coral sea,--
Such a tommyrot!
And so with unction I conceive
Invention wild and new,
Until I'm coming to believe
My taradiddles true . . .
Is it because I'm old and sage,
I draw a bow that's risky?
Or can it be--that lies with age
Improve like whisky?
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJEXEF KLKLMEME |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 110101 11110101 110111 11011101 110111 11110101 0101 11011111 111111 11110100 110111 11010111 011101 101111001 1111 01011111 11011 0100111 01011 01010011 01010 0100101 101 0111101 010101 01110101 111 11011101 1101110 11111111 01110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 957 |
Words | 169 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 169 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 101 Views
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"Old Scout" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32340/old-scout>.
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