Analysis of Why!
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Sisters!
I've thought o'er this until my brain has blisters.
Are you, indeed, such valiant resisters
Of all the charm, the grace, the noble bearing
Of that strange creature who's condemned to wearing
A bifurcated garment, and whose hair
Is pruned, say, monthly - if mere wear and tear
Has not destroyed the crop?
Sisters, I stop
To ponder that strange statement o'er
Once more:
And, though I don't know very much about it,
Frankly, I doubt it.
For if, indeed, you have no conscious aim,
Then why, I claim,
Why, sisters, WHY,
Why the glad eye?
And, by the by,
Why that adorable, coy, cute, elusive, shy
That certain - shall we say, that certain sly
The down-dropped eye
That half expressed desire to gently lean
Oh, you know what I mean.
If there is nothing to it,
Why do you do it?
Sisters, indeed, I am truly perplexed
Nay, almost vexed . . .
Again I pause
To meditate on certain proven laws,
On certain schemes and - shall we call them traps?
Oh, well, perhaps:
Biology and sex and motor rides,
Gardens in moonlight, the jazz, the little dinner, the bush picnic, the surfing
party and many things besides
If you are really never out to catch
(Not to say snatch)
A noble husband, then - wait a minute,
Aha! I knew there must be some catch in it!
Of course, a sudden thought,
He never IS a husband till he's caught!. . .
Let me retaliate,
And boldly state:
A spinster is mistaken in supposing
That any man, no matter how imposing,
How brave, how true, how noble, how devout
A smany of us are, without a doubt
Is out
To catch a wife.
Not - on - your - LIFE!
He's out to catch a maid.
The giddy blade!
To make her wife. Believe it or ignore it,
But, sisters, this dull world's much better for it!
Scheme | AAABBCCDDEFGGHHIIIIIIJJGGKKLLMMNBNOOPGQRSSBBTTTUUVVGG |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10 111010111110 11011101 11010101010 11110101110 010010011 1111011101 110101 1011 110111010 11 01111101011 10111 1101111101 1111 1101 1011 0101 110100110101 1101111101 0111 11010101101 111111 1111011 11111 1001111001 111 0111 110110101 1101011111 1101 0100010101 10010101010011010 10010101 1111010111 1111 0101011010 1111111101 110101 1101010111 11010 0101 01010100010 11011101010 1111110101 011110101 11 1101 1111 111101 0101 11010111011 11011111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,662 |
Words | 319 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 53 |
Lines Amount | 53 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,276 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 323 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:38 min read
- 120 Views
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"Why!" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6825/why%21>.
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