Analysis of Winding Wool
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
She'd bring to me a skein of wool
And beg me to hold out my hands;
so on my pipe I cease to pull
And watch her twine the shining strands
Into a ball so snug and neat,
Perchance a pair of socks to knit
To comfort my unworthy feet,
Or pullover my girth to fit.
As to the winding I would sway,
A poem in my head would sing,
And I would watch in dreamy way
The bright yarn swiftly slendering.
The best I liked were coloured strands
I let my pensive pipe grow cool . . .
Two active and two passive hands,
So busy wining shining wool.
Alas! Two of those hands are cold,
And in these days of wrath and wrong,
I am so wearyful and old,
I wonder if I've lived too long.
So in my loneliness I sit
And dream of sweet domestic rule . . .
When gentle women used to knit,
And men were happy winding wool.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFBGBA HIHIDGDA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111 01111111 11111111 01010101 01011101 01011111 11010101 111111 11010111 01001111 01110101 011101 01110101 11110111 11001101 11010101 01111111 00111101 111101 11011111 10110011 01110101 11010111 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 775 |
Words | 161 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 201 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 122 Views
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"Winding Wool" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32751/winding-wool>.
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