Analysis of John Ballard
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
In the lust of my strength
I cursed God, but he paid no attention to me:
I might as well have cursed the stars.
In my last sickness I was in agony, but I was resolute
And I cursed God for my suffering;
Still He paid no attention to me;
He left me alone, as He had always done.
I might as well have cursed the Presbyterian steeple.
Then, as I grew weaker, a terror came over me:
Perhaps I had alienated God by cursing him.
One day Lydia Humphrey brought me a bouquet
And it occurred to me to try to make friends with God,
So I tried to make friends with Him;
But I might as well have tried to make friends with the bouquet.
Now I was very close to the secret,
For I really could make friends with the bouquet
By holding close to me the love in me for the bouquet
And so I was creeping upon the secret, but --
Scheme | ABCDEBFGBHIJHIKIIK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 001111 111111101011 11111101 0111011010011110 011111100 111101011 1110111111 1111110010010 1111100101101 0111100011101 111001011001 0101111111111 11111111 11111111111001 1111011010 11101111001 11011101011001 011110010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 798 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 18 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 622 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 166 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 52 Views
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