Analysis of Conscientious Objector
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
I shall die, but
that is all that I shall do for Death.
I hear him leading his horse out of the stall;
I hear the clatter on the barn-floor.
He is in haste; he has business in Cuba,
business in the Balkans, many calls to make this morning.
But I will not hold the bridle
while he clinches the girth.
And he may mount by himself:
I will not give him a leg up.
Though he flick my shoulders with his whip,
I will not tell him which way the fox ran.
With his hoof on my breast, I will not tell him where
the black boy hides in the swamp.
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death;
I am not on his pay-roll.
I will not tell him the whereabout of my friends
nor of my enemies either.
Though he promise me much,
I will not map him the route to any man's door.
Am I a spy in the land of the living,
that I should deliver men to Death?
Brother, the password and the plans of our city
are safe with me; never through me Shall you be overcome.
Scheme | XAXBXCXXXX XXXXAX XXXBCAXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 111111111 11110111101 110101011 11011110010 10001010111110 11111010 111001 0111101 11111011 111110111 1111111011 111111111111 0111001 1111111111111 1111111 1111101111 11110010 111011 111110111011 11010011010 111010111 100100111010 1111101111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 939 |
Words | 201 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 239 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 66 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 399 Views
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