Analysis of The Fourth of July
Gregory Baranoff 1951 (Shanghai)
The Fourth of July
I tried to look forward to yesterday.
It was the Fourth of July.
The day off, the grill, family and or friends,
Kids are older now, live out of state, grandkids growing up too fast.
Family ties, just a cousin left, at 93, she reminisces a lot, talks of hospice,
Friends are out of town, on the other side or overseas.
So I spent the day with yesterday’s news streaming on TV
Anticipating what might come after sunset.
I first heard the bursts in the distance, then saw the delayed puffs of smoke and flashes in the sky,
A different sound from nature’s thunder, or God’s.
It was man-made.
I could hear shouts, directions, children’s screams, the wails of ambulances and firetrucks indiscernible.
The explosions came nearer, for sure now in our neighborhood.
Where am I, in Ukraine, or am I home?
Some whistled overhead. The flares lighting up the sky.
The bursts surrounded my shelter and the homes around us, the sound bouncing off the walls,
They kept coming, ticking off minutes toward midnight while I looked for old glory,
The red, white, and blue, and in a moment of clarity and pride, I saw it waving calmly in the distance,
The rope and clasp clapping on the pole.
Suddenly, the roar of an engine brought me back into the now and I saw blue and yellow
Strapped to the back of a pickup truck as it sped down the desolate street.
Scheme | A XAXXXX BXAXXAXX AXBXXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111 111110110 110111 01101100011 111011111110111 10011010111010011110 11111101011101 11101110110111 0100111101 11101001011001111010001 010011101011 1111 11110101010111000011 001011011101010 1110011111 1101010110101 010101100010110110101 1110101100111111110 011010001011000111110100010 010110101 10001111011101010111010 11011011111101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,368 |
Words | 268 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 6, 8, 7 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 48 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 265 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Fourth of July" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/166184/the-fourth-of-july>.
Discuss this Gregory Baranoff poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In