Analysis of When He Leaves Me
Prior to his leave-taking
Does he leaf through me
Or is every page, every line perused?
Does he ask himself,
“What sense is this making?”
Or does he simply scratch his head,
Bemused, thinking
“I ought to have snoozed?”
If an “i” is undotted
A “t” without its cross spotted,
Is that hard to bear
Or does he even care?
A word is misspelled or erroneously used.
Does he feel abused?
If the adjective is “pleated”
Whereas it should be “broken”
And the nouns are misspoken
Is the meaning irrevocably defeated?
That is to say, if “with pleated” plow
Sits the farmer bestride his “broken brow”
Can ...the meaning be rescued?
Will the reader realize that the agrarian
Is in fact with thought imbued
Regarding his useless farm equipment?
And when this lector opts
To become a defector,
Will it cause him pain,
Leave a stain on his heart,
In his brain?
If so, will he know?
As for me, I am mute, unheard,
An onlooker. I will never utter a word
Though my whole self is replete
With words I cannot speak.
I am neuter, an it.
Unlike the speaker,
I am voiceless, without wit.
I am not, nor will I ever be
Unless someone opens me
And reads what is inside
And ponders all that I cannot say.
Scheme | ABC XAXAC CDEECC CFFD GGH FHX XIJXJ X KKXX LILBBXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011110 11111 111001100101 11101 111110 11110111 0110 11111 11111 01011110 11111 111101 011011010001 11101 1010011 0111110 0011010 101001000010 11111111 101011101 1010110 101010100100 1011101 0101101010 011101 1010010 11111 101111 011 11111 11111101 11011101001 1111101 111101 111011 01010 1110011 111111101 011101 011101 010111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,171 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 5, 6, 4, 3, 3, 5, 1, 4, 7 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 90 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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"When He Leaves Me" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/60586/when-he-leaves-me>.
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