Analysis of The successful man has thrust himself
Stephen Crane 1871 – 1900
The successful man has thrust himself
Through the water of the years,
Reeking wet with mistakes --
Bloody mistakes;
Slimed with victories over the lesser,
A figure thankful on the shore of money.
Then, with the bones of fools
He buys silken banners
Limned with his triumphant face;
With the skins of wise men
He buys the trivial bows of all.
Flesh painted with marrow
Contributes a coverlet,
A coverlet for his contented slumber.
In guiltless ignorance, in ignorant guilt,
He delivered his secrets to the riven multitude.
"Thus I defended: Thus I wrought."
Complacent, smiling,
He stands heavily on the dead.
Erect on a pillar of skulls
He declaims his trampling of babes;
Smirking, fat, dripping,
He makes speech in guiltless ignorance,
Innocence.
Scheme | ABCCDEFGHIJKLDLLLMLNOMPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 001011101 1010101 101101 1001 1110010010 01010101110 110111 111010 1110101 101111 110100111 110110 01001 011101010 01010001001 1010110101010 11010111 01010 11100101 01101011 1111011 10110 111010100 100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 756 |
Words | 127 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 598 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 124 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 125 Views
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"The successful man has thrust himself" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35731/the-successful-man-has-thrust-himself>.
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