Analysis of The Atheist And The Acorn
Anne Kingsmill Finch 1661 – 1720 (Westminster)
Methinks this World is oddly made,
And ev'ry thing's amiss,
A dull presuming Atheist said,
As stretch'd he lay beneath a Shade;
And instanced in this:
Behold, quoth he, that mighty thing,
A Pumpkin, large and round,
Is held but by a little String,
Which upwards cannot make it spring,
Or bear it from the Ground.
Whilst on this Oak, a Fruit so small,
So disproportion'd, grows;
That, who with Sence surveys this All,
This universal Casual Ball,
Its ill Contrivance knows.
My better Judgment wou'd have hung
That Weight upon a Tree,
And left this Mast, thus slightly strung,
'Mongst things which on the Surface sprung,
And small and feeble be.
No more the Caviller cou'd say,
Nor farther Faults descry;
For, as he upwards gazing lay,
An Acorn, loosen'd from the Stay,
Fell down upon his Eye.
Th' offended Part with Tears ran o'er,
As punish'd for the Sin:
Fool! had that Bough a Pumpkin bore,
Thy Whimseys must have work'd no more,
Nor Scull had kept them in.
Scheme | ABXAB CDCCD EFEEF GHGGH IHIIX XJKKJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (37%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111101 01101 010101001 11110101 0101 01111101 010101 11110101 11010111 111101 11110111 111 11110111 10101001 110101 11010111 110101 01111101 11110101 010101 110111 11011 11110101 11010101 110111 11010111110 110101 11110101 1111111 111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 978 |
Words | 173 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 123 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 171 Views
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"The Atheist And The Acorn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3281/the-atheist-and-the-acorn>.
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