Analysis of Shelf Life
She chooses her words carefully
at lulls in conversation
trying hard not to flatter the silence
never depriving the cute boys of their
two seconds of eye contact:
And she knows, she'll never find salvation
in this town,
for if nothing ever happens, certainly
nothing like true love will,
and she can't write the poems because
her sense of dignity, a study in mirrors,
won't let her use those words
like pride like strength unless she
means them
so she's chosen a dirty grey sweatshirt
and arms hugging herself in from the cold
mouth closed sitting on a bench
thinking maybe after all another dull night
looks like snow
to her they're baby stars falling
Scheme | ABXXX BXAXXXXAX XXX XX X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (30%) |
Metre | 11001100 110010 1011110010 1001001111 110111 0111101010 011 11101010100 101111 011101001 011100010010 110111 1111011 11 111001011 0110010101 1110101 101010101011 111 10110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 633 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 9, 3, 2, 1 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 105 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 2 Views
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"Shelf Life" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/83959/shelf-life>.
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