Analysis of Identity Crisis
William Goresko 1951 (Philadelphia, PA) – 2008 (Willow Grove, PA)
You turn your head and look up at
The clear and sultry summer sky
And from within your emerald throat
There comes a sharp and piercing cry.
Your parrot eye, exquisite red
Is round and ringed with perfect lash
And with that tiny shining orb
You watch your feathered brethren dash.
High up they flash from here to there,
The swallows, swifts and raucous crows
And from inside your iron cage
Your consternation grows and grows.
While in the throes of jealousy
You open wide your scissored beak,
There tumbles out a garbled stew
A jumbled hash of human speak.
This welter comes out thick and fast
Reflections of my household lore;
A sullen whine, a sweet hello,
An addled laugh, you then implore.
Of course there's more (there always is)
But talk in Greek, you might as well,
The fragments of the words you spew
Into a phrase just will not gel.
Outside your cell you climb around
With no attempt to fly away
As you've embraced captivity,
(For room and board we all must pay).
Oh some would say, "His wings are clipped
He has no choice you stole his flight"
And while there is some truth in this
To leave it there would not be right.
Your plight is that your little head
Is filled with human intercourse,
Your wild winged heart has lost its wings
And so you're wracked with hot remorse.
Shriek till you're hoarse, or jabber on,
(You're stuck with us in any case),
Perplexed, at odds, and downright miffed,
Well welcome to the human race.
Scheme | XAXA BCXC XDXD EFGF XHXH XIGI XJEJ XKXK BLXL XMXM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11110111 01010101 01011101 11010101 11011001 11011011 01110101 11110101 11111111 01010101 01011101 1010101 10011100 1101111 11010101 01011101 11011101 0101111 01010101 11011101 1111111 11011111 01010111 01011111 11111101 11011101 11010100 11011111 11111111 11111111 01111101 11111111 11111101 1111010 11111111 01111101 1111111 11110101 0111011 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,404 |
Words | 263 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 114 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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"Identity Crisis" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/98720/identity-crisis>.
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