Analysis of White Christmas
My folks think I'm a serving maid
Each time I visit home;
They do not dream I ply a trade
As old as Greece or Rome;
For if they found I'd fouled their name
And was not white as snow,
I'm sure that they would die of shame . . .
Please, God, they'll never know.
I clean the paint from off my face,
In sober black I dress;
Of coquetry I leave no trace
To give them vague distress;
And though it causes me a pang
To play such sorry tricks,
About my neck I meekly hang
A silver crufix.
And so with humble step I go
Just like a child again,
To greet their Christmas candle-glow,
A soul without a stain;
So well I play my contrite part
I make myself believe
There's not a stain within my heart
On Holy Christmas Eve.
With double natures we are vext,
And what we feel, we are;
A saint one day, a sinner next,
A red light or a star;
A prostitute or proselyte,
And in each part sincere:
So I become a vestal white
One week in every year.
For this I say without demur
From out life's lurid lore,
Each righteous women has in her
A tincture of the whore;
While every harpy of the night,
As I have learned too well;
Holds in her heart a heaven-light
To ransom her from hell.
So I'll go home and sweep and dust;
I'll make the kitchen fire,
And be a model of daughters just
The best they could desire;
I'll fondle them and cook their food,
And Mother dear will say:
"Thank God! my darling is as good
As when she went away."
But after New Year's Day I'll fill
My bag and though they grieve,
I'll bid them both good-bye until
Another Christmas Eve;
And then . . . a knock upon the door:
I'll find them waiting there,
And angel-like I'll come once more
In answer to their prayer.
Then Lo! one night when candle-light
Gleams mystic on the snow,
And music swells of Christmas bells,
I'll come, no more to go:
The old folks need my love and care,
Their gold shall gild my dross,
And evermore my breast shall bear
My little silver cross.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGXGE DXDXHIHI AJXJAKLK MNMNLOLO PMPMXQXQ RIRINSNS LDXDSTST |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 111101 11111101 111111 11111111 011111 11111111 111101 11011111 010111 111111 111101 01110101 111101 01111101 0101 01110111 110101 11110101 010101 11111011 11101 11010111 110101 11010111 011111 01110101 011101 01011 001101 11010101 1101001 11110101 111101 11010100 010101 11001101 111111 10010101 110011 11110101 1101010 010101101 0111010 11010111 010111 11110111 111101 11011111 110111 11111101 010101 01010101 111101 01011111 010111 11111101 110101 01011101 111111 01111101 111111 0101111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,859 |
Words | 376 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 182 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:57 min read
- 107 Views
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"White Christmas" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32746/white-christmas>.
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