Analysis of To Failure
Philip Larkin 1922 (Coventry) – 1985 (Hull)
You do not come dramatically, with dragons
That rear up with my life between their paws
And dash me butchered down beside the wagons,
The horses panicking; nor as a clause
Clearly set out to warn what can be lost,
What out-of-pocket charges must be borne,
Expenses met; nor as a draughty ghost
That's seen, some mornings, running down a lawn.
It is these sunless afternoons, I find,
Instal you at my elbow like a bore.
The chestnut trees are caked with silence. I'm
Aware the days pass quicker than before,
Smell staler too. And once they fall behind
They look like ruin. You have been here some time.
Scheme | ABABXXXX CDEDCE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110100110 1111110111 01110101010 0101001101 1011111111 1111010111 010111011 1111010101 11110111 11111101 011111101 0101110101 111011101 11110111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 588 |
Words | 109 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 236 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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"To Failure" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53637/to-failure>.
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