Analysis of Vain Gratuities
Edwin Arlington Robinson 1869 – 1935
Never was there a man much uglier
In eyes of other women, or more grim:
"The Lord has filled her chalice to the brim,
So let us pray she's a philosopher,"
They said; and there was more they said of her--
Deeming it, after twenty years with him,
No wonder that she kept her figure slim
And always made you think of lavender.
But she, demure as ever, and as fair,
Almost, as they remembered her before
She found him, would have laughed had she been there,
And all they said would have been heard no more
Than foam that washes on an island shore
Where there are none to listen or to care.
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDCDDC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011011100 0111010111 0111010101 1111100100 1101111110 111010111 1101110101 011111100 1101110011 111010001 1111111111 0111111111 1111011101 1111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 592 |
Words | 117 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 226 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 192 Views
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"Vain Gratuities" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10092/vain-gratuities>.
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