Analysis of Dr. Siegfried Iseman

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



I said when they handed me my diploma,
I said to myself I will be good
And wise and brave and helpful to others;
I said I will carry the Christian creed
Into the practice of medicine!
Somehow the world and the other doctors
Know what's in your heart as soon as you make
This high-soured resolution.
And the way of it is they starve you out.
And no one comes to you but the poor.
And you find too late that being a doctor
Is just a way of making a living.
And when you are poor and have to carry
The Christian creed and wife and children
All on your back, it is too much!
That's why I made the Elixir of Youth,
Which landed me in the jail at Peoria
Branded a swindler and a crook
By the upright Federal Judge!


Scheme ABCDECFEGHIJKELMANO
Poetic Form
Metre 11111011010 11111111 0101010110 1111100101 010101100 101001010 1101111111 1110010 0011111111 011111101 01111110010 1101110010 0111101110 010101010 11111111 1111001011 110100110100 100100001 10011001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 698
Words 146
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 19
Lines Amount 19
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 551
Words per stanza (avg) 144
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
32

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

All Edgar Lee Masters poems | Edgar Lee Masters Books

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