Analysis of Shaemus
Conrad Potter Aiken 1889 (Savannah, Georgia) – 1973 (Savannah, Georgia)
We will go no more to Shaemus, at the Nip,
for sly innuendo and an Oporto Flip,
the rough but tender voice, the wide-mouthed grin,
the steady-unsteady hand that poured the gin:
memory, that flew back years to find a name,
found it, and fetched it up, still just the same;
the shaky footsteps, and then the shaky kidding:
you, the big business man, outbid, outbidding,
the mystery man, the man of deep affairs,
highbrow, and playboy, and friend of millionaires:
and you, the lovers, whose love was in your faces—
there you were, back once more—and still the traces!—
Yes, still the traces of that love he loved,
and re-examined, but as if unmoved;
the names fished up from time, or Singapore,
joined and repeated on his bar once more;
as if no let or hindrance were permitted;
as if both time and space could be outwitted;
endurance noted—in a protocol—
and then embalmed, of course, in alcohol.
And now himself, the immortal, lightly gone,
as if stepped out for a quick one—who had none.
And dead, his room inspected by his friends,
to find a will, adjust the odds and ends;
and there, the fifteen suits, the malacca cane,
the hats, and spats: in which he roved again,
far from the furnished room, the sacred bar,
immortal dandy, towards an immortal star.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF XXGG HHII XXJJ XXKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (57%) |
Metre | 1111111101 1100100111 0111010111 01001011101 10011111101 1101111101 01010101010 101101110 01001011101 10101101 010101110110 11011101010 1101011111 0101011101 011111110 1001011111 11111100010 1111011110 100100010 010111010 01010010101 11111011111 0111010111 1101010101 01001100101 0101011101 1101010101 010100110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,275 |
Words | 227 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 138 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 117 Views
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"Shaemus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7038/shaemus>.
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