Analysis of The Music Box
Christopher Morley 1890 (Haverford) – 1957
AT six-long ere the wintry dawn-
There sounded through the silent hall
To where I lay, with blankets drawn
Above my ears, a plaintive call.
The Urchin, in the eagerness
Of three years old, could not refrain;
Awake, he straightway yearned to dress
And frolic with his clockwork train.
I heard him with a sullen shock.
His sister, by her usual plan,
Had piped us aft at 3 o'clock-
I vowed to quench the little man.
I leaned above him, somewhat stern,
And spoke, I fear, with emphasis-
Ah, how much better, parents learn,
To seal one's sensure with a kiss!
Again the house was dark and still,
Again I lay in slumber's snare,
When down the hall I heard a trill,
A tiny, tinkling, tuneful air-
His music-box! His best-loved toy,
His crib companion every night;
And now he turned to it for joy
While waiting for the lagging light.
How clear, and how absurdly sad
Those tingling pricks of sound unrolled;
They chirped and quavered, as the lad
His lonely little heart consoled.
Columbia, the Ocean's Gem-
(Its only tune) shrilled sweet and faint.
He cranked the chimes, admiring them,
In vigil gay, without complaint.
The treble music piped and stirred,
The leaping air that was his bliss;
And, as I most contritely heard,
I thanked the all-unconscious Swiss!
The needled jets of melody
Rang slowlier and died away-
The Urchin slept; and it was I
Who lay and waited for the day.
Scheme | ABAB CDXD EFEF GCGH IJIJ KLKL MKMX NONO PHPH XQXQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11110101 11010101 11111101 01110101 01000100 11111101 0111111 0101111 11110101 110101001 1111101 11110101 11011111 01111100 11110101 1111101 01011101 0111011 11011101 010100101 11011111 110101001 01111111 11010101 11010101 11001111 11010101 11010101 01000101 11011101 11010101 01010101 01010101 01011111 011111 1101101 01011100 110101 01010111 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,369 |
Words | 247 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 03, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 109 Views
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