Analysis of The Actor
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
O man, with your wonderful dower,
O woman, with genius and grace,
You can teach the whole world with your power,
If you are but worthy the place.
The stage is a force and a factor
In moulding the thought of the day,
If only the heart of the actor
Is high as the theme of the play.
No discourse or sermon can reach us
Through feeling to reason like you;
No author can stir us and teach us
With lessons as subtle and true.
Your words and your gestures obeying
We weep or rejoice with your part,
And the player, behind all his playing,
He ought to be great at his art.
No matter what role you are giving,
No matter what skill you betray,
The everyday life you are living
Is certain to colour the play.
The thoughts we call secret and hidden
Are creatures of malice, in fact;
They steal forth unseen and unbidden,
And permeate motive and act.
The genius that shines like a comet
Fills only one part of God’s plan,
If the lesson the word derives from it
Is marred by the life of the man.
Be worthy your work if you love it;
The king should be fit for the crown;
Stand high as your art, or above it,
And make us look up and not down.
Scheme | XABABCBC DEDEFGFG FCFCHIHI XJKJKLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111001 11011001 1110111110 11111001 011010010 01001101 110011010 11101101 110110111 11011011 110111011 11011001 110110010 11101111 0010011110 11111111 110111110 11011101 010111110 1101101 011110010 11011001 1110101 0101001 010111010 11011111 1010010111 11101101 110111111 01111101 111111011 01111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,137 |
Words | 226 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 219 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 98 Views
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"The Actor" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10813/the-actor>.
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