Analysis of Editor Whedon

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



To be able to see every side of every question;
To be on every side, to be everything, to be nothing long;
To pervert truth, to ride it for a purpose,
To use great feelings and passions of the human family
For base designs, for cunning ends,
To wear a mask like the Greek actors --
Your eight-page paper -- behind which you huddle,
Bawling through the megaphone of big type:
"This is I, the giant."
Thereby also living the life of a sneak-thief,
Poisoned with the anonymous words
Of your clandestine soul.
To scratch dirt over scandal for money,
And exhume it to the winds for revenge,
Or to sell papers,
Crushing reputations, or bodies, if need be,
To win at any cost, save your own life.
To glory in demoniac power, ditching civilization,
As a paranoiac boy puts a log on the track
And derails the express train.
To be an editor, as I was.
Then to lie here close by the river over the place
Where the sewage flows from the village,
And the empty cans and garbage are dumped,
And abortions are hidden.


Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLDMFDNAOPQRSTA
Poetic Form
Metre 1110111001110010 1111001111011101 11011111010 111100101010100 11011101 110110110 11110011110 11010111 111010 111010011011 101001001 110101 1111010110 0011101101 11110 10010110111 1111011111 1100110100010 10011101101 0010011 111100111 1111110101001 101011010 0010101011 0010110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 986
Words 190
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 25
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 778
Words per stanza (avg) 187
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
49

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

All Edgar Lee Masters poems | Edgar Lee Masters Books

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