Analysis of The Way Up
David A Whitfield 1966 (Sherman TX)
Upon the correlation
Of profit and loss, I guess
The things I’ve blown or brought me success
Do very little for my ego
For I am horrified
The days like sand through hourglass fall
Spent misdirected or doing nothing at all
Are greater than days lived nobly
But who can
Determine whether loss or gain will stay
Failure may be triumph on the way
The bottom of the barrel may be the way up
| Scheme | XAAX XBBX XCCX |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 010010 1100111 011111101 110101110 11110 01111101 100101101011 11011110 111 0101011111 101110101 010101011011 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 378 |
| Words | 74 |
| Sentences | 1 |
| Stanzas | 3 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 12 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
About this poem
This little poem came about one morning by the sudden realization that he'd not written in his journal for a good many days. That led to despair over wasted time and failure. Then at last the bright thought that days of inactivity or even failure most likely are on the same eventual path to success.
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Written on October 22, 2020
Submitted on September 16, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 22 sec read
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"The Way Up" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/109703/the-way-up>.
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