Analysis of Last Look



What would I choose to see when I
To this bright earth shall bid good-bye?
When fades forever from my sight
The world I've loved with long delight?
What would I pray to look on last,
When Death shall draw the Curtain fast?

I've loved the farewell of the Sun,
Low-lapsing after work well done;
Or leaping from a sea forlorn,
Gold-glad to greet a day new born. . . .
Shall I elect to round my dream
The Sun I hail as Lord Supreme?

Ah no! Of Heaven's shining host,
It is the Moon I love the most;
And if, when I shall cease to be,
God lets me keep one memory
Of loveliness that held me thrall,
The Moon's the one I would recall.

. . . The new Moon fine as pearly clip
From Cleopatra's finger-tip;
. . . The ripe Moon vaulting o'er the trees
As ruddy as a Cheddar cheese;
. . . The late Moon, frail and wanly fair,
Relaxed on silver rocking chair. . . .

But most of all, the Moon intense
With radiant indifference;
So placid, glacid, pure, serene,
Of all perfection proudly Queen. . . .
Oh Mistress Mine, let me adore
Your beauty but one moment more!
One last look . . . Let the Curtain fall,
Then let me look no more at all.


Scheme AABBCC DDEEFF GGHHII JJKKLL XXMMNNII
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 11111111 11010111 01111101 11111111 11110101 1101101 11010111 11010101 11110111 11011111 01111101 11110101 11011101 01111111 11111100 111111 0101111 01111101 1010101 011101001 11010101 0111011 01110101 11110101 11000100 1101101 11010101 11011101 11011101 11110101 11111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,098
Words 207
Sentences 33
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 167
Words per stanza (avg) 45
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:03 min read
107

Robert William Service

Robert William Service was a poet and writer sometimes referred to as the Bard of the Yukon He is best-known for his writings on the Canadian North including the poems The Shooting of Dan McGrew The Law of the Yukon and The Cremation of Sam McGee His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was Robert William Service was born 16 January 1874 in Preston England but also lived in Scotland before emigrating to Canada in 1894 Service went to the Yukon Territory in 1904 as a bank clerk and became famous for his poems about this region which are mostly in his first two books of poetry He wrote quite a bit of prose as well and worked as a reporter for some time but those writings are not nearly as well known as his poems He travelled around the world quite a bit and narrowly escaped from France at the beginning of the Second World War during which time he lived in Hollywood California He died 11 September 1958 in France Incidentally he played himself in a movie called The Spoilers starring John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich more…

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