Analysis of In Praise Of Contentment
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
(HORACE'S ODES, III, I)
I hate the common, vulgar herd!
Away they scamper when I 'booh' 'em!
But pretty girls and nice young men
Observe a proper silence when
I chose to sing my lyrics to 'em.
The kings of earth, whose fleeting pow'r
Excites our homage and our wonder,
Are precious small beside old Jove,
The father of us all, who drove
The giants out of sight, by thunder!
This man loves farming, that man law,
While this one follows pathways martial--
What moots it whither mortals turn?
Grim fate from her mysterious urn
Doles out the lots with hand impartial.
Nor sumptuous feasts nor studied sports
Delight the heart by care tormented;
The mightiest monarch knoweth not
The peace that to the lowly cot
Sleep bringeth to the swain contented.
On him untouched of discontent
Care sits as lightly as a feather;
He doesn't growl about the crops,
Or worry when the market drops,
Or fret about the changeful weather.
Not so with him who, rich in fact,
Still seeks his fortune to redouble;
Though dig he deep or build he high,
Those scourges twain shall lurk anigh--
Relentless Care, relentless Trouble!
If neither palaces nor robes
Nor unguents nor expensive toddy
Insure Contentment's soothing bliss,
Why should I build an edifice
Where Envy comes to fret a body?
Nay, I'd not share your sumptuous cheer,
But rather sup my rustic pottage,
While that sweet boon the gods bestow--
The peace your mansions cannot know--
Blesseth my lowly Sabine cottage.
Scheme | A BCDDC XEFFE XGHHG XXIIX XEJJE XGAFG XBXXX XKLLK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100111 11010101 011101110 11010111 01010101 111111011 011111011 01101001010 11010111 01011111 010111110 11110111 11110110 11110101 111001001 110111010 11011101 01011110 0100111 01110101 11101010 11011001 111101010 11010101 11010101 11010110 11111101 111101010 11111111 1101111 010101010 11010011 1110101 011101 11111100 110111010 11111101 11011101 11110101 01110101 11100110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,417 |
Words | 254 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 07, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 115 Views
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"In Praise Of Contentment" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/12977/in-praise-of-contentment>.
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