Analysis of Wild Oats
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
I saw a fair youth, with a brow broad and white,
And an eye that was beaming with intellect's light:
And his face seemed to glow with the wealth of his mind;
And I said, 'He will grace and ennoble mankind:
He is Nature's own king.'
We met yet again. I saw the youth stand
With a bowl that was flowing and red in his hand;
And he filled it again, and again did he quaff,
And his friends gathered round him, and said with a laugh,
'He is sowing his oats.'
Ah! his eye was too bright, and his cheek was too red,
And I gazed on the youth with a feeling of dread;
And again as he laughingly lifted the bowl,
I turned from the scene with a shuddering soul:
It was terrible seed!
We met but once more. I found in the street
A corpse half-enveloped in mud and in sleet:
A foul, bloated thing; but I saw in the face
A something that told of its boyhood's grace:
He had reaped the dire crop.
O youths who are sowing wild oats! do you know
That the terrible seed you are planting will grow?
Have you thought how your God will require some day
An account of the life you are throwing away?
Have you thought, O rash youth?
It will soon be too late, there is no time to waste;
Then throw down the cup! do not touch, do not taste!
It is filled with destruction and sorrow and pain:
Throw it down! throw it down! do not lift it again:
It will soon be too late!
Scheme | AABBX CCDDX EEFFX GGHHX IIJJX KKXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101101 0111110111 011111101111 011111001011 111011 1110111011 101111001011 011101001111 011101101101 111011 111111011111 011101101011 001111001001 11101101001 111001 1111111001 01101001001 01101111001 010111111 111011 11111011111 101001111011 11111111011 101101111001 111111 111111111111 11101111111 111101001001 111111111101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,323 |
Words | 275 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 171 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 41 Views
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"Wild Oats" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11005/wild-oats>.
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