Analysis of Ghosts
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I to a crumpled cabin came
upon a hillside high,
And with me was a withered dame
As weariful as I.
"It used to be our home," she said;
"How well I remember well!
Oh that our happy hearth should be
Today an empty shell!"
The door was flailing in the storm
That deafed us with its din;
The roof that kept us once so warm
Now let the snow-drift in.
The floor sagged to the sod below,
The walls caved crazily;
We only heard the wind of woe
Where once was glow and glee.
So there we stood disconsolate
Beneath the Midnight Dome,
And ancient miner and his mate,
Before our wedded home,
Where we had know such love and cheer . . .
I sighed, then soft she said:
"Do not regret - remember, dear,
We, too, are dead."
Scheme | ABABCDED FGFGHEHE CIXIJCJC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 01011 01110101 1111 111110111 1110101 111010111 011101 01110001 111111 01111111 110110 01110101 011100 11010111 111101 11111 01011 01010011 0110101 11111101 111111 11010101 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 727 |
Words | 143 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 75 Views
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"Ghosts" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32143/ghosts>.
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