Analysis of The Artist
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
All day with brow of anxious thought
The dictionary through,
Amid a million words he sought
The sole one that would do.
He wandered on from pub to pub
Yet never ceased to seek
With burning brain and pencil stub
The Word Unique.
Said he: 'I'll nail it down or die.
Oh Heaven help me, pray!'
And then a heavy car dashed by,
And he was in the way.
They rushed him to the hospital,
And though his chance was bleak,
He cried: 'I'll croak, but find I shall
The Word Unique.'
They reckoned he was off his head,
And could be it was so;
For as they bent above his bed
He mumbled soft and low.
And then a name they heard him speak,
Yet did not deem it odd . . .
At last he'd found the Word Unique,--
Just God.
Scheme | ababcdcD efefxdxD ghghdidi |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 01001 01010111 011111 11011111 110111 11010101 0101 11111111 110111 01010111 011001 1111010 011111 11111111 0101 11011111 011111 11110111 110101 01011111 111111 11110101 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 804 |
Words | 145 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 175 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 108 Views
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"The Artist" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32476/the-artist>.
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