Analysis of How Salty Win Out
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
I used to think that luck wuz luck and nuthin' else but luck--
It made no diff'rence how or when or where or why it struck;
But sev'ral years ago I changt my mind, an' now proclaim
That luck's a kind uv science--same as any other game;
It happened out in Denver in the spring uv '80 when
Salty teched a humpback an' win out ten.
Salty wuz a printer in the good ol' Tribune days,
An', natural-like, he fell into the good ol' Tribune ways;
So, every Sunday evenin' he would sit into the game
Which in this crowd uv thoroughbreds I think I need not name;
An' there he'd sit until he rose, an', when he rose, he wore
Invariably less wealth about his person than before.
But once there came a powerful change; one sollum Sunday night
Occurred the tidal wave that put ol' Salty out o' sight.
He win on deuce an' ace an' Jack--he win on king an' queen--
Clif Bell allowed the like uv how he win wuz never seen.
An' how he done it wuz revealed to all us fellers when
He said he teched a humpback to win out ten.
There must be somethin' in it, for he never win afore,
An' when he told the crowd about the humpback, how they swore!
For every sport allows it is a losin' game to luck
Agin the science uv a man who's teched a hump f'r luck;
And there is no denyin' luck wuz nowhere in it when
Salty teched a humpback an' win out ten.
I've had queer dreams an' seen queer things, an' allus tried to do
The thing that luck apparently intended f'r me to;
Cats, funerils, cripples, beggers have I treated with regard,
An' charity subscriptions have hit me powerful hard;
But what's the use uv talkin'? I say, an' say again:
You've got to tech a humpback to win out ten!
So, though I used to think that luck wuz lucky, I'll allow
That luck, for luck, agin a hump aint nowhere in it now!
An' though I can't explain the whys an' wherefores, I maintain
There must be somethin' in it when the tip's so straight an' plain;
For I wuz there an' seen it, an' got full with Salty when
Salty teched a humpback an' win out ten!
Scheme | aabbcC ddbbee ffggcc eeaacC hhiicc jjkkcC |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111101111 1111111111111 1110111111101 11011101110101 110101000111 101011111 1010100011101 110011101011101 1100111110101 10111101111111 11110111111111 010001101110101 1111010011111 01010111110111 11111111111111 11010111111101 11111101111101 1111011111 111101111011 1111010101111 11001011101111 010101011101111 01111111011 101011111 1111111111111 011101000101111 111011110101 11000101111001 1101110111101 1111011111 11111111110101 1111010111011 1111010111101 1111011011111 11111111111101 101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,972 |
Words | 394 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 252 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:02 min read
- 126 Views
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"How Salty Win Out" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12971/how-salty-win-out>.
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