Analysis of The Hearth-Stone
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
The leaves are sick and jaundiced, they
Drift down the air;
December's sky is sodden grey,
Dark with despair;
A bleary dawn will light anon
A world of care.
My name is cut into a stone,
No care have I;
The letters drool, as I alone
Forgotten lie:
With weed my grave is overgrown,
None cometh nigh.
A hundred hollow years will speed
As I decay;
And I'll be comrade to the weed,
Kin to the clay;
Until some hind in homing-need
Will pass my way.
Until some lover seeking hearth
With joy will see
My nameless stone sunk in the earth
And it will be
The ruddy birth of childish mirth,
And elder glee.
And none will dream it bore my name
Decades ago;
A scribbling fool of little fame,
Who loved life so . . .
Well, flesh is grass and Time must pass,--
Heigh ho! Heigh ho!
Scheme | ABABCB CDCDCD EAEAEA XFGFGF HIHIXI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (40%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 01110101 1101 01011101 1101 0101111 0111 11110101 1111 01011101 0101 1111101 1101 01010111 1101 0111101 1101 01110101 1111 01110101 1111 11011001 0111 01011101 0101 01111111 0101 010011101 1111 11110111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 967 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 117 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 122 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Hearth-Stone" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32554/the-hearth-stone>.
Discuss this Robert William Service poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In