Analysis of The Summing Up
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
When you have sailed the seven seas
And looped the ends of earth,
You'll long at last for slippered ease
Beside a bonny hearth;
A cosy cottage in the sun,
A pleasant page to read -
You'll find when all is said and done,
That's nearly all you need.
You may have pow-wowed with the Great
And played a potent part
In serious affairs of state,
But now with quiet heart
You bide beside a rosy fire
And blether with a friend,
Discovering that you require
So little in the end.
And all your days of fevered flight
For glory, gold or gear
Will seem so futile when the Night
Draws dolorously near;
And you will only ask to be
With modest comfort blest,
With sweetness of simplicity,
With rich reward of rest.
Scheme | AXAXBXBX CDCDEFEF GHGHIJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 010111 1111111 010101 01010001 010111 11111101 110111 11111101 010101 01000111 111101 110101010 01101 01001110 110001 01111101 110111 11110101 111 01110111 110101 11010100 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 686 |
Words | 135 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 11, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 75 Views
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"The Summing Up" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32659/the-summing-up>.
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