Analysis of The Woman And The Angel
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street;
His halo was tilted sideways, and his harp lay mute at his feet;
So the Master stooped in His pity, and gave him a pass to go,
For the space of a moon, to the earth-world, to mix with the men below.
He doffed his celestial garments, scarce waiting to lay them straight;
He bade good by to Peter, who stood by the golden gate;
The sexless singers of heaven chanted a fond farewell,
And the imps looked up as they pattered on the red-hot flags of hell.
Never was seen such an angel -- eyes of heavenly blue,
Features that shamed Apollo, hair of a golden hue;
The women simply adored him; his lips were like Cupid's bow;
But he never ventured to use them -- and so they voted him slow.
Till at last there came One Woman, a marvel of loveliness,
And she whispered to him: "Do you love me?" And he answered that woman, "Yes."
And she said: "Put your arms around me, and kiss me, and hold me -- so --"
But fiercely he drew back, saying: "This thing is wrong, and I know."
Then sweetly she mocked his scruples, and softly she him beguiled:
"You, who are verily man among men, speak with the tongue of a child.
We have outlived the old standards; we have burst, like an over-tight thong,
The ancient, outworn, Puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong."
Then the Master feared for His angel, and called him again to His side,
For oh, the woman was wondrous, and oh, the angel was tried!
And deep in his hell sang the Devil, and this was the strain of his song:
"The ancient, outworn, Puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong."
Scheme | aabb ccdd eexb ffbb gghH iihH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
Metre | 11011011011100101 110110101111111 1010101100110111 10110110111110101 111010101101111 11111101110101 0101011010011 0011111101011111 10111110111001 1011010110101 01010011110111 1110101110111011 1111111001011 011011111101101101 0111110110110111 110111101111011 110111100101101 111110111101101 1110110111111011 010110101101 10101111001101111 110101100101011 01011101001101111 010110101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,566 |
Words | 307 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 50 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 170 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Woman And The Angel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32690/the-woman-and-the-angel>.
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