Analysis of After The German. A Sophomore Soliloquy.
George Augustus Baker Jr 1849 ( New York City, New York) – 1906 ( New York City, New York)
Blackboard, with ruler and rubber before me,
Chalk loosely held in my hand,
Sun-gilded motes in the air all around me,
Listlessly dreaming I stand.
What do I care for the problem I've written
In characters gracefully slight,
As the festal-robed beauties whose fairy feet flitted
Through the maze of the German last night!
What do I care for the lever of friction,
For sine, or co-ordinate plane,
When fairy musicians are playing the "Mabel,"
And waltzes each nerve in my brain!
On my coat's powdered chalk, not the dust of the diamond
That only last night sparkled there,
By the galop's wild whirl shower'd down on my shoulder
From turbulent tresses of hair.
In my ear is the clatter of chalk against blackboard,
Not music's voluptuous swell;
Alas! this is life, so pass mortal pleasures,
And, thank goodness, there goes the bell!
Scheme | ABAB CDBD CEXE XFXF XGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) |
Metre | 1110010011 1101011 11010011011 1001011 11111010110 01001001 10111011011 101101011 11111010110 111111 110010110010 01011011 1111011011010 11011101 101111011110 11001011 011101011011 11001001 01111111010 01101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 825 |
Words | 148 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 131 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
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"After The German. A Sophomore Soliloquy." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55333/after-the-german.-a-sophomore-soliloquy.>.
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