Analysis of Summer Job
Five days of this, every week, I thought
As I picked up the sledgehammer
And slung it against the immovable wall.
It was the first day of work and only an hour
Had passed. Still, I had already perspired
Through my shirt and sweat was trickling down my face.
How could I quit this job and still save face?
Then, I remembered my father, and the thought
Was stifled. Yet my mind still perspired
Delusions of swimming as the sledgehammer
Kept time like a clock striking the hour,
Never hesitating. Bits of the wall
Fell down. Voices escaped from behind the wall
Through the hole I had made. I saw black faces
Intent on their work. I wondered how many hours
They had been there. Quickly the thought
Passed as I felt the sledgehammer
Slip through my hands, which had perspired
All over the handle. As I perspired,
A slight breeze slipped through the adjoining wall
And cooled my back. The sledgehammer
Recoiled on contact. Suddenly a face
Appeared, smiling. A smile I thought
I had seen before. “It’s lunchtime: we got an hour,”
The man said. Finally, the hour
Had come. I picked up a drink that perspired
Down my fingers and hand to the floor. The thought
Quickened inside me—when I returned to my side of the wall—
That I could not see any black faces,
Only me. I picked up the sledgehammer
And stepped back. I felt the heft of the sledgehammer
As I raised my right arm and hit the bricks until the hour
Had come for knocking off. Now, I could see the faces
On the other side: each man had perspired
A long day’s work and finally the wall
Was gone. I looked back at my thoughts.
I knew the hour had come for me to face my walls—
To not let my thoughts perspire but take action.
I looked at the sledgehammer standing by.
Scheme | ABCBAD DAABBC CEXABA ACBDAB BAACEB BBEACX XXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111100111 1111010 01101001001 1101111010110 111110101 11101110111 1111110111 11010110001 11011111 0101101010 1110110010 101001101 11100110101 10111111110 0111111011010 11111001 1111010 1111111 110010111 0111100101 0111010 011110001 01100111 111011111110 011100010 111110111 11100110101 100111101111101 1111110110 101111010 01111011010 111111010101010 1111011111010 101011111 0111010001 11111111 1101011111111 11111011110 111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,691 |
Words | 322 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 3 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 193 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on January 05, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:36 min read
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"Summer Job" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/85383/summer-job>.
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