Analysis of The Goal
Leonard Cohen 1934 (Westmount) – 2016 (Los Angeles, California)
I can´t leave my house
or answer the phone.
I´m going down again
but feeling no pain.
And that´s the great change
and mercy to boot ---
the enemy´s dead
and I don´t have to shoot.
But as for the fall:
it was writ long ago
and I can´t stop it now ---
I´m rain and I´m snow.
And I settle at last
on the ground of my soul
in shapes of the past
and shapes that unfold.
I sit in my chair
and I look at the street --
the enemy´s gone
and his absence is sweet!
I move with the leaves
I shine with the chrome
I´m almost alive
I´m almost at home.
But please do not follow
I´ve nothing to teach:
except that the goal
falls short of the reach.
Scheme | XXXX XAXA XBXB CDCX XEXE XFXF BGDG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 111111 11001 1110101 11011 011011 01011 010011 0111111 11101 111101 0111111 1110111 011011 101111 01101 01101 11011 011101 010011 011011 11101 11101 11101 11111 111110 111011 01101 11101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 617 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 17 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 67 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 19 |
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"The Goal" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54562/the-goal>.
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