Analysis of Concerning Emperors
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
I. GOD SEND THE REGICIDE
Would that the lying rulers of the world
Were brought to block for tyrannies abhorred.
Would that the sword of Cromwell and the Lord,
The sword of Joshua and Gideon,
Hewed hip and thigh the hosts of Midian.
God send that ironside ere tomorrow's sun;
Let Gabriel and Michael with him ride.
God send the Regicide.
II. A COLLOQUIAL REPLY: TO ANY NEWSBOY
If you lay for Iago at the stage door with a brick
You have missed the moral of the play.
He will have a midnight supper with Othello and his wife.
They will chirp together and be gay.
But the things Iago stands for must go down into the dust:
Lying and suspicion and conspiracy and lust.
And I cannot hate the Kaiser (I hope you understand.)
Yet I chase the thing he stands for with a brickbat in my hand.
Scheme | A AAABBBAA X XCXCAAAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101 1101010101 0111110001 1101110001 0111000100 11010111 111101011 1100010111 1101 100100011101 11110101011101 111010101 11101101010011 111010011 101010111110101 1000100010001 0110101011101 11101111101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 773 |
Words | 152 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 1, 8 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 154 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 107 Views
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"Concerning Emperors" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37272/concerning-emperors>.
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