Analysis of Fear
Gamaliel Bradford 1863 (Boston, Massachusetts) – 1932
When I was little,
My life was half fear.
My nerves were as brittle
As nature may bear.
Shapes monstrous would follow
My footsteps alone,
And night, huge and hollow,
Yawned cold as a stone.
At trifles I started,
For nothing I wept,
And terror departed
Not all when I slept.
Now I've grown older,
My nerves I restrain.
My pulses are colder,
And clearer my brain.
Yet still with a shudder
I drift through the dark
And fear holds the rudder,
A-guiding my bark.
The world's so enormous
In multiple whole,
What god can inform us
It cares for a soul?
Scheme | AXAX BCBC DEDE FGFG FHFH IJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 11110 11111 110110 11011 110110 1101 011010 11101 110110 11011 010010 11111 11110 11101 110110 01011 111010 11101 011010 01011 011010 01001 111011 11101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 529 |
Words | 104 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 70 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 17 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 77 Views
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"Fear" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14531/fear>.
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