Analysis of Belated Conscience
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
To buy for school a copy-book
I asked my Dad for two-pence;
He gave it with a gentle look,
Although he had but few pence.
'Twas then I proved myself a crook
And came a moral cropper,
I bought a penny copy-book
And blued the other copper.
I spent it on a sausage roll
Gulped down with guilt suggestion,
To the damnation of my soul
And awful indigestion.
Poor Dad! His job was hard to hold;
His mouths to feed were many;
Were he alive a millionfold
I'd pay him for his penny.
Now nigh the grave I think with grief,
Though other sins are many,
I am a liar and a thief
'Cause once I stole a penny:
Yet be he pious as a friar
It is my firm believing,
That every man has been a liar
And most of us done thieving.
Scheme | ABABACAC DEDEFGFG HGHGCICI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 1111111 11110101 111111 1111101 0101010 11010101 0101010 11110101 1111010 10010111 010010 11111111 1111010 010101 1111110 11011111 1101110 11010001 1111010 111101010 1111010 1100111010 0111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 811 |
Words | 146 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 104 Views
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"Belated Conscience" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32009/belated-conscience>.
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