Analysis of The Song Of The Sandwich
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
We
met at night in the season's hight,
Mid revel and mirth and song.
I looked in your eye with a mute, mute cry,
As you elbowed your way through the throng.
Alone in that crowd of men who bowed,
And flattered, and flirted around,
Your quick thought guessed the woe in my breast,
And you sprang to my side with a bound.
In a whisper as faint as a south wind's plaint,
I murmured my need to you.
'A sandwich!' I wailed, then your strong eye quailed,
For oh! they were thin and few.
And about them hustled and pushed and tussled,
A score of desperate men.
But you drew your breath, and you hissed ''Sdeath!'
And then you turned back again.
'Ladye!' you cried with haughty pride,
While your dark eye flashed on me,
'If I risk my life in yon seething strife
What shall my guerdon be?'
'May I hope for a line that shall be all mine,
A song by the world unheard?
From rivals detested, shall the sandwich be wrested,
If thou wilt but say the word.'
'If you reach that goal, I vow by my soul,
(I spoke in a desperate tone)
And I live till that time, I will write you a rhyme,
A rhyme to be all your own.'
'Nay more, if you try, and in warfare die,
As sometimes befalls the brave,
In lines of glory I'll wreathe your story
And lay them upon your grave.'
Like a knight of old, with an air that was bold,
You turned from my side and went,
Past salad dish, past deviled fish,
Past cake and condiment.
With a step unswerving and a speed deserving
A better reward-alack!
You crossed the room 'neath the red globes' gloom,
Bent on the sandwich's track
My heart stood still in a nameless chill,
As I saw you stride away,
For fair girls' smiles, and punch bowl's wiles,
Both by your roadside lay.
With the fever fire of hunger dire,
I saw you pass them straight,
And I almost wept as your bold hand swept
To the waning sandwich plate.
Then back you came with your cheek aflame,
And the victor's glow in your eye;
Oh! it was grand to see you stand
With the sandwich held on high.
So here and now, I keep my vow;
(Tho' the sandwich is no more)
I would rise from my hearse and write that verse,
If it were not written before.
Poet, we know that many men go,
Forth on that self-same track,
With purpose as high, to do or die,
But they bring no sandwich back.
Scheme | ABCDC XEXE BFBF XGXG XAXA XHXH XIXI DJAJ XXXX XCXK XLXL XMXM XDXD XNXN XKDK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 11100101 1100101 1101110111 11111101 010111111 01001001 111101011 011111101 00101110111 1101111 0101111111 1110101 00111001010 011101 111110111 0111101 1111101 1111111 1111101101 11111 11110111111 0110101 1100101010110 1111101 1111111111 1100101 011111111101 0111111 111110011 1010101 0111011110 0110111 10111111111 1111101 1101111 110100 101010001010 010011 110110111 11011 111100101 1111101 11110111 11111 1010101101 111111 011111111 1010101 111111101 00101011 11111111 1010111 11011111 1010111 1111110111 11011001 101111011 111111 110111111 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,189 |
Words | 447 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 61 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:13 min read
- 120 Views
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"The Song Of The Sandwich" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10898/the-song-of-the-sandwich>.
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