Analysis of If I should die tonight

William Percy French 1854 – 1920



"If I should die tonight
And you should come,
And stand beside me,
Lying cold and dumb,
And if while standing there,
You whispered low,
'Here's the ten pounds
You lent me years ago,'
I would arise, although they'd laid me flat,
And say, 'What's that?'

If I should die tonight
But rose to count
With trembling fingers,
That long lost amount
I might live on;
But when
You said' Here's your umbrella
And your fountain pen,'
For one short space
I'd gaze into thy face
And then
Drop dead again."


Scheme Abxbxcxcdd Aexexfxfggff
Poetic Form
Metre 111101 0111 01011 10101 011101 1101 1011 111101 110111111 0111 111101 1111 110010 11101 1111 11 1111010 01101 1111 110111 01 1101
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 491
Words 97
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 12
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 17
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 187
Words per stanza (avg) 46
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
66

William Percy French

William Percy French (1 May 1854 – 24 January 1920) became known as one of Ireland's foremost songwriters and entertainers. Thanks to the late Oliver Nulty, French has become recognised for his watercolour paintings as well. William Percy French was a gifted polymath who had a number of artistic talents at his command. He could work very quickly, and his output is prodigious across many genres. more…

All William Percy French poems | William Percy French Books

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