Analysis of It Is Later Than You Think
Lone amid the cafe's cheer,
Sad of heart am I to-night;
Dolefully I drink my beer,
But no single line I write.
There's the wretched rent to pay,
Yet I glower at pen and ink:
Oh, inspire me, Muse, I pray,
It is later than you think!
Hello! there's a pregnant phrase.
Bravo! let me write it down;
Hold it with a hopeful gaze,
Gauge it with a fretful frown;
Tune it to my lyric lyre . . .
Ah! upon starvation's brink,
How the words are dark and dire:
It is later than you think.
Weigh them well. . . . Behold yon band,
Students drinking by the door,
Madly merry, bock in hand,
Saucers stacked to mark their score.
Get you gone, you jolly scamps;
Let your parting glasses clink;
Seek your long neglected lamps:
It is later than you think.
Look again: yon dainty blonde,
All allure and golden grace,
Oh so willing to respond
Should you turn a smiling face.
Play your part, poor pretty doll;
Feast and frolic, pose and prink;
There's the Morgue to end it all,
And it's later than you think.
Yon's a playwright -- mark his face,
Puffed and purple, tense and tired;
Pasha-like he holds his place,
Hated, envied and admired.
How you gobble life, my friend;
Wine, and woman soft and pink!
Well, each tether has its end:
Sir, it's later than you think.
See yon living scarecrow pass
With a wild and wolfish stare
At each empty absinthe glass,
As if he saw Heaven there.
Poor damned wretch, to end your pain
There is still the Greater Drink.
Yonder waits the sanguine Seine . . .
It is later than you think.
Lastly, you who read; aye, you
Who this very line may scan:
Think of all you planned to do . . .
Have you done the best you can?
See! the tavern lights are low;
Black's the night, and how you shrink!
God! and is it time to go?
Ah! the clock is always slow;
It is later than you think;
Sadly later than you think;
Far, far later than you think.
Scheme | ababcdcD efefgdgD hihiedxD jkjkxdxd klklmdmd nonoxdxD pqpqrdrrDdd |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101011 1111111 11111 1110111 1010111 11101101 1011111 1110111 0110101 1011111 1110101 1110101 1111101 10111 1011101 1110111 1110111 1010101 1010101 1011111 1111101 1110101 1110101 1110111 1011101 1010101 1110101 1110101 1111101 1010101 1011111 0110111 101111 10101010 0111111 10100010 1110111 1010101 1110111 1110111 1110101 101011 1110101 1111101 1111111 1110101 10101010 1110111 1011111 1110111 1111111 1110111 1010111 1010111 1011111 101111 1110111 1010111 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,789 |
Words | 346 |
Sentences | 38 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 11 |
Lines Amount | 59 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 197 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 367 Views
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"It Is Later Than You Think" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32191/it-is-later-than-you-think>.
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