Analysis of Beak-Bashing Boy
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
But yesterday I banked on fistic fame,
Figgerin' I'd be a champion of the Ring.
Today I've half a mind to quit the Game,
For all them rosy dreams have taken wing,
Since last night a secondary bout
I let a goddam nigger knock me out.
It must have been that T-bone steak I ate;
They might have doped it, them smart gambling guys,
For round my heart I felt a heavy weight,
A stab of pain that should have put me wise.
But oh the cheering of the fans was sweet,
And never once I reckoned on defeat.
I had the nigger licked - twice he went down,
And there was just another round to go.
I played with him, I made him look a clown,
Yet he was game, and traded blow for blow.
And then that piston pain, the dark of doom . . .
Like meat they lugged me to my dressing-room.
So that's the pay-off to my bid for fame.
But yesterday my head was in the sky,
And now I slink and sag in sorry shame,
And hate to look my backers in the eye.
They think I threw the fight; I sorto' feel
The ringworms rate me for a lousy heel.
Oh sure I could go on - but gee! it's rough
To be a pork-and-beaner at the best;
To beg for bouts, yet getting not enough
To keep a decent feed inside my vest;
To go on canvas-kissing till I come
To cadge for drinks just like a Bowery bum.
Hell no! I'll slug my guts out till I die.
I'll be no bouncer in a cheap saloon.
I'll give them swatatorium scribes the lie,
I'll make a come-back, aye and pretty soon.
I'll show them tinhorn sports; I'll train and train,
I'll hear them cheer - oh Christ! the pain, the PAIN . . .
Stable-Boss:
"Poor punk! you're sunk - you'll never scrap again."
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHII AJAJKK LMLMNN JOJOPP XX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 1110100101 0111011101 1111011101 11101001 110110111 1111111111 11111111001 1111110101 0111111111 1101010111 0101110101 1101011111 0111010111 1111111101 1111010111 0111010111 1111111101 1101111111 110111001 0111010101 0111110001 111101111 011110101 1111111111 110101101 1111110101 1101010111 1111010111 11111101001 1111111111 1111000101 1111101 1101110101 111111101 1111110101 101 1111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,565 |
Words | 321 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 2 |
Lines Amount | 38 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 170 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 102 Views
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"Beak-Bashing Boy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32006/beak-bashing-boy>.
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