Analysis of The Suicide
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
Last was the wealth I carried in life's pack-
Youth, health, ambition, hope and trust but Time
And Fate, those robbers fit for any crime
Stole all, and left me but the empty sack.
Before me lay a long and lonely track
Of darkling hills and barren steeps to climb;
Behind me lay in shadows the sublime
Lost lands of Love's delight. Alack! Alack!
Unwearied, and with springing steps elate,
I had conveyed my wealth along the road.
The empty sack proved now a heavier load:
I was borne down beneath its worthless weight.
I stumbled on, and knocked at Death's dark gate.
There was no answer. Stung by sorrow's goad
I
forced
my way into that grim abode,
And laughed, and flung Life's empty sack to Fate
Unknown and uninvited I passed in
To that strange land that hangs between two goals,
Round which a dark and solemn river rolls-
More dread its silence than the loud earth's din.
And now, where was the peace I hoped to win?
Black-masted ships slid past me in great shoals,
Their bloody decks thronged with mistaken souls.
(God punishes mistakes sometimes like sin.)
Not rest and not oblivion I found.
My suffering self dwelt with me just the same;
But here no sleep was, and no sweet dreams came
To give me respite. Tyrant Death, uncrowned
By my own hand, still King of Terrors, frowned
Upon my shuddering soul, that shrank in shame
Before those eyes where sorrow blent with blame,
And those accusing lips that made no sound.
What gruesome shapes dawned on my startled sight!
What awful sighs broke on my listening ear!
The anguish of the earth, augmented here
A thousand-fold, made one continuous night.
The sack I flung away in impious spite
Hung yet upon me, filled. I saw in fear,
With tears that rained from earth's adjacent sphere,
And turned to stones in falling from that height.
And close about me pressed a grieving throng,
Each with his heavy sack, which bowed him so
His face was hidden. One of these mourned: 'Know
Who enters here but finds the way more long
To those fair realms where sounds the angels' song
There is no man-made exit out of woe;
Ye cannot dash the locked door down and go
To claim thy rightful joy through paths of wrong.'
He passed into the shadows dim and gray,
And left me to pursue my path alone.
With terror greater than I yet had known.
Hard on my soul the awful knowledge lay,
Death had not ended life nor found God's way;
But, with my same sad sorrows still my own,
Where by-roads led to by-roads, thistle-sown,
I had but wandered off and gone astray.
With earth still near enough to hear its sighs,
With heaven afar and hell but just below,
Still on and on my lonely soul must go
Until I earn the right to Paradise.
We cannot force our way into God's skies,
Nor rush into the rest we long to know;
But patiently, with bleeding steps and slow,
Toil on to where selfhood in Godhood dies.
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDDCCDXXDC EFFEEFFE GHHCGHHG IJJIIKKI LMMLLMML NOONNOON PMMXPMMP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110011 1101010111 0111011101 1101110101 0111010101 111010111 011101001 11110111 10110101 1101110101 01011101001 1111011101 1101011111 111101111 1 1 11011101 0101110111 010010110 1111110111 1101010101 1111010111 0111011111 1101111011 1101110101 1100010111 1101010011 11001111101 1111101111 111101011 1111111101 01110011101 0111110111 0101011111 1101111101 11011111001 0101010101 01011101001 01110100101 1101111101 1111110101 0111010111 0101110101 1111011111 1111011111 1101110111 1111110101 1111110111 1101011101 1111011111 110101101 0111011101 1101011111 1111010101 1111011111 1111110111 1111111101 1111010101 1111011111 11001011101 1101110111 011101110 11011010111 1101011111 1100110101 11111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,767 |
Words | 523 |
Sentences | 28 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 10, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 66 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 277 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:39 min read
- 49 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Suicide" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10905/the-suicide>.
Discuss this Ella Wheeler Wilcox poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In