Analysis of Workworn
Across the street, an humble woman lives;
To her 'tis little fortune ever gives;
Denied the wines of life, it puzzles me
To know how she can laugh so cheerily.
This morn I listened to her softly sing,
And, marvelling what this effect could bring
I looked: 'twas but the presence of a child
Who passed her gate, and looking in, had smiled.
But self-encrusted, I had failed to see
The child had also looked and laughed to me.
My lowly neighbour thought the smile God-sent,
And singing, through the toilsome hours she went.
O! weary singer, I have learned the wrong
Of taking gifts, and giving naught of song;
I thought my blessings scant, my mercies few,
Till I contrasted them with yours, and you;
To-day I counted much, yet wished it more--
While but a child's bright smile was all your store,
If I had thought of all the stormy days,
That fill some lives that tread less favoured ways,
How little sunshine through their shadows gleamed,
My own dull life had much the brighter seemed;
If I had thought of all the eyes that weep
Through desolation, and still smiling keep,
That see so little pleasure, so much woe,
My own had laughed more often long ago;
If I had thought how leaden was the weight
Adversity lays at my kinsman's gate,
Of that great cross my next door neighbour bears,
My thanks had been more frequent in my prayers;
If I had watched the woman o'er the way,
Workworn and old, who labours day by day,
Who has no rest, no joy to call her own,
My tasks, my heart, had much the lighter grown.
Scheme | AABXCCDDBBEEFFGGHH IIJJKKLLMMNNOOPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101110101 1011010101 0101111101 11111111 1111010101 01110111 1111010101 1101010011 1101011111 0111010111 110110111 0101011011 1101011101 1101010111 1111011101 1101011101 1111011111 1101111111 1111110101 111111111 11011111 1111110101 1111110111 101001101 1111010111 1111110101 1111110101 010011111 111111111 1111110011 11110101001 10111111 1111111101 1111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,511 |
Words | 281 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 16 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 585 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 140 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:25 min read
- 85 Views
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"Workworn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12651/workworn>.
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