Analysis of New Brooms
Roger McGough 1937 (Litherland)
New brooms sweep clean
Old brooms can't be fussed
New brooms are mad keen
Old brooms can't stand dust.
New brooms are young bulls
Can't wait to get their teeth
Into the kitchen carpet,
Up the stairs and underneath
The fridge and the cooker
Where grease stains won't dissolve,
With each problem their bristles
Stiffening with resolve.
Old brooms are allergic
To dust and doggy hair
Than raise a whirlwind in the lounge
They would much prefer
To rearrange the particles
With a reassuring sweep,
Then lean against the cupboard wall
For a long and dreamless sleep.
'Dust is the carpet of the contented'
The motto of ancient brooms
And of the folk who sit contentedly
Waiting, in darkening rooms.
Scheme | ABAB XCXC DEFE XXXD FGXG XHXH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 1111 11111 11111 11111 11111 111111 0101010 101001 010010 111101 1110110 100101 111010 110101 1101001 11101 1010100 100101 11010101 101011 1101010010 0101101 0101110100 1001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 668 |
Words | 120 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 93 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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"New Brooms" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53800/new-brooms>.
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