Dirge For A Joker

Sylvia Plath 1932 (Boston) – 1963 (London)



Always in the middle of a kiss
Came the profane stimulus to cough;
Always from the pulpit during service
Leaned the devil prompting you to laugh.

Behind mock-ceremony of your grief
Lurked the burlesque instinct of the ham;
You never altered your amused belief
That life was a mere monumental sham.

From the comic accident of birth
To the final grotesque joke of death
Your malady of sacrilegious mirth
Spread gay contagion with each clever breath.

Now you must play the straight man for a term
And tolerate the humor of the worm.
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Submitted by JokerGem on March 13, 2023

Modified on May 03, 2023

30 sec read
82

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXX ABAB CDCD EE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 532
Words 101
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 2

Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was born on 27 october,1932 in US. And died 1963. She was a poet,novelist,and short story writer. more…

All Sylvia Plath poems | Sylvia Plath Books

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