Analysis of Next, Please
Philip Larkin 1922 (Coventry) – 1985 (Hull)
Always too eager for the future, we
Pick up bad habits of expectancy.
Something is always approaching; every day
Till then we say,
Watching from a bluff the tiny, clear
Sparkling armada of promises draw near.
How slow they are! And how much time they waste,
Refusing to make haste!
Yet still they leave us holding wretched stalks
Of disappointment, for, though nothing balks
Each big approach, leaning with brasswork prinked,
Each rope distinct,
Flagged, and the figurehead with golden tits
Arching our way, it never anchors; it's
No sooner present than it turns to past.
Right to the last
We think each one will heave to and unload
All good into our lives, all we are owed
For waiting so devoutly and so long.
But we are wrong:
Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEBX EXFF GGHH IIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111010101 1111010100 10110101001 1111 101010101 10010110011 1111011111 010111 1111110101 101011101 110110111 1101 100101101 10101110101 1101011111 1101 1111111001 11011011111 1101010011 1111 1011110101 101010101 010110001 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 848 |
Words | 156 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on July 26, 2020
Modified by RobertHaigh on July 26, 2020
- 47 sec read
- 124 Views
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"Next, Please" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54474/next%2C-please>.
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