Analysis of Plymouth Rock Joe
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
Why are you running so fast hither and thither
Chasing midges or butterflies?
Some of you are standing solemnly scratching for grubs;
Some of you are waiting for corn to be scattered.
This is life, is it?
Cock-a-doodle-do! Very well, Thomas Rhodes,
You are cock of the walk, no doubt.
But here comes Elliott Hawkins,
Gluck, Gluck, Gluck, attracting political followers.
Quah! quah! quah! why so poetical, Minerva,
This gray morning?
Kittie -- quah -- quah! for shame, Lucius Atherton,
The raucous squawk you evoked from the throat
Of Aner Clute will be taken up later
By Mrs. Benjamin Pantier as a cry
Of votes for women: Ka dook -- dook!
What inspiration has come to you, Margaret Fuller Slack?
And why does your gooseberry eye
Flit so liquidly, Tennessee Claflin Shope?
Are you trying to fathom the esotericism of an egg?
Your voice is very metallic this morning, Hortense Robbins --
Almost like a guinea hen's!
Quah! That was a guttural sigh, Isaiah Beethoven;
Did you see the shadow of the hawk,
Or did you step upon the drumsticks
Which the cook threw out this morning?
Be chivalric, heroic, or aspiring,
Metaphysical, religious, or rebellious,
You shall never get out of the barnyard
Except by way of over the fence
Mixed with potato peelings and such into the trough!
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMAAKNOPQHRLSBKKTUVW |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111001 1010110 1111101001011 111110111110 11111 10101101101 11110111 11110010 1110100100100 111111010 1110 1111110100 0101101101 1111110110 1101001101 11110111 10101111100101 0111101 11101101 111011001111 11110010110110 110101 1110100110100 11101101 11110101 10111110 110101010 01000101010 111011101 011111001 11011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,252 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 31 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 997 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 220 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 123 Views
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"Plymouth Rock Joe" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8688/plymouth-rock-joe>.
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