Analysis of The Widow
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I don't think men of eighty odd
Should let a surgeon operate;
Better to pray for peace with God,
And reconcile oneself to Fate:
At four-score years we really should
Be quite prepared to go for good.
That's what I told my husband but
He had a hearty lust for life,
And so he let a surgeon cut
Into his innards with a knife.
The sawbones swore: "The man's so fat
His kidneys take some getting at."
And then (according to a nurse),
They heard him petulantly say:
"Adipose tissue is curse:
It's hard to pack them tripes away."
At last he did; sewed up the skin,
But left, some say, a swab within.
I do not doubt it could be so,
For Lester did not long survive.
But for mishap, I think with woe
My hubby might still be alive.
And while they praise the surgeon's skill,
My home I've sold--to pay his bill.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHII JKJKLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 1101010 10111111 010111 11111101 11011111 11111101 11010111 01110101 01110101 0110111 11011101 01010101 11111 10111 11111101 11111101 11110101 11111111 11011101 1111111 11011101 01110101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 862 |
Words | 159 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 152 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 127 Views
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