Analysis of A Fairly Sad Tale
Dorothy Parker 1893 (Long Branch) – 1967 (New York City)
I think that I shall never know
Why I am thus, and I am so.
Around me, other girls inspire
In men the rush and roar of fire,
The sweet transparency of glass,
The tenderness of April grass,
The durability of granite;
But me- I don't know how to plan it.
The lads I've met in Cupid's deadlock
Were- shall we say?- born out of wedlock.
They broke my heart, they stilled my song,
And said they had to run along,
Explaining, so to sop my tears,
First came their parents or careers.
But ever does experience
Deny me wisdom, calm, and sense!
Though she's a fool who seeks to capture
The twenty-first fine, careless rapture,
I must go on, till ends my rope,
Who from my birth was cursed with hope.
A heart in half is chaste, archaic;
But mine resembles a mosaic-
The thing's become ridiculous!
Why am I so? Why am I thus?
Scheme | AABCDDEFGGHHIJKLCCMMNNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 11110111 01110101 010101110 01010011 01001101 000100110 111111111 0111011 01111111 11111111 01111101 01011111 11110101 11010100 01110101 110111110 010111010 11111111 11111111 010111010 110100010 01010100 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 798 |
Words | 159 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 619 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 156 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 279 Views
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