Analysis of How Fortunate the Man with None

Bertolt Brecht 1898 (Augsburg) – 1956 (East Berlin)



From the play "Mother Courage"

You saw sagacious Solomon
You know what came of him,
To him complexities seemed plain.
He cursed the hour that gave birth to him
And saw that everything was vain.
How great and wise was Solomon.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's wisdom that had brought him to this state.
How fortunate the man with none.

You saw courageous Caesar next
You know what he became.
They deified him in his life
Then had him murdered just the same.
And as they raised the fatal knife
How loud he cried: you too my son!
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's courage that had brought him to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.

You heard of honest Socrates
The man who never lied:
They weren't so grateful as you'd think
Instead the rulers fixed to have him tried
And handed him the poisoned drink.
How honest was the people's noble son.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's honesty that brought him to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.

Here you can see respectable folk
Keeping to God's own laws.
So far he hasn't taken heed.
You who sit safe and warm indoors
Help to relieve our bitter need.
How virtuously we had begun.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's fear of god that brought us to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.


Scheme x abcbcaDEdA xfgfgaDEdA xhihiaDEdA xxjxjaDEdA
Poetic Form
Metre 1011010 111100 111111 11010011 1101011111 0111011 11011100 0110111 11011101 1101111111 11000111 11010101 111101 1101011 11110101 01110101 11111111 0110111 11011101 1101111111 11000111 1111010 011101 110110111 0101011111 01010101 1101010101 0110111 11011101 1100111111 11000111 111101001 101111 11110101 1111011 110110101 111101 0110111 11011101 1111111111 11000111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,371
Words 262
Sentences 25
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 10, 10, 10, 10
Lines Amount 41
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 221
Words per stanza (avg) 52
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 04, 2023

1:21 min read
503

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, theatre director, and Marxist. more…

All Bertolt Brecht poems | Bertolt Brecht Books

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