Analysis of Underground System
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
Set the foot down with distrust upon the crust of the
world—it is thin.
Moles are at work beneath us; they have tunneled the
sub-soil
With separate chambers; which at an appointed knock
Could be as one, could intersect and interlock. We walk
on the skin
Of life. No toil
Of rake or hoe, no lime, no phosphate, no rotation of
crops, no irrigation of the land,
Will coax the limp and flattened grain to stand
On that bad day, or feed to strength the nibbled root's of
our nation.
Ease has demoralized us, nearly so, we know
Nothing of the rigours of winter: The house has a roof
against—the car a top against—the snow.
All will be well, we say, it is a bit, like the rising of the
sun,
For our country to prosper; who can prevail against us?
No one.
The house has a roof; but the boards of its floor are
rotting, and hall upon hall
The moles have built their palace beneath us, we have
not far to fall.
Scheme | ABACDEBCFGGFHIJIAHKHLMNM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011101010110 1111 11110111110 11 110101110101 111110100111 101 1111 11111111010101 11010101 1101010111 1111111101011 1010 11010110111 1010111001101 0101010101 1111111101101010 1 110101101101011 11 011011011111 1001011 011111001111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 904 |
Words | 176 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 694 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 178 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 62 Views
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"Underground System" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9494/underground-system>.
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