Analysis of I Am
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
Am
I know not whence I came,
I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and the murk
Another truth shines plain –
It is my power each day and hour
To add to its joy or its pain.
I know that the earth exists,
It is none of my business why;
I cannot find out what it’s all about,
I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
I am here for a little space,
And while I stay I would like, if I may,
To brighten and better the place.
The trouble, I think, with us all
Is the lack of a high conceit.
If each man thought he was sent to this spot
To make it a bit more sweet,
How soon we could gladden the world,
How easily right all wrong,
If nobody shirked, and each one worked
To help his fellows along!
Cease wondering why you came –
Stop looking for faults and flaws;
Rise up to-day in your pride and say,
‘I am part of the First Great Cause!
However full the world,
There is room for an earnest man.
It had need of me, or I would not be –
I am here to strengthen the plan.’
Scheme | XABXBXCXC XDXDXEFE XGXGHIXI AXFXHJXJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 111111 1111011 101111111 01111001 01101001 010111 1111011010 11111111 1110101 11111101 1101111101 1111111 1110111 11110101 0111111111 11001001 01011111 10110101 1111111111 1110111 11111001 1100111 1110111 1111001 1100111 1101101 111101101 11110111 10101 11111101 1111111111 11111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,086 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 201 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 379 Views
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