Analysis of A Summer Summary

Franklin P. Adams 1881 (Chicago, Illinois) – 1960 (New York City, New York)



Shall I, lying in a grot,
Die because the day is hot?
Or declare I can't endure
Such a torrid temperature?
Be it hotter than the flames
South Gehenna Junction claims,
  If it be not so to me,
  What care I how hot it be?

Shall I say I love the town
Praised by Robinson and Browne?
Shall I say, 'In summer heat
Old Manhattan can't be beat?'
Be it luring as a bar,
Or my neighbour's motor-car,
  If I think it is pazziz
  What care I how fine it is?

Shall I prate of rural joys
Far from civic smoke and noise?
Shall I, like the others, drool
'But the nights are always cool?'
If I hate to rise at six
Shall I praise the suburbs? Nix!
  If the country's not for me,
  What care I how good it be?

Town or country, cool or hot,
Differs nothing, matters not;
For to quote that Roman cuss,
Why dispute 'de gustibus?'
If to this or that one should
Take a fancy, it is good.
  If these rhymes look good to me,
  What care I how bad they be?


Scheme AAXXBBCC DDAAEEBX FFGGHHCC AAXBAACC
Poetic Form
Metre 1110001 1010111 1011101 1010100 1110101 11101 1111111 1111111 1111101 1110001 1110101 1010111 1110101 111101 111111 1111111 1111101 1110101 1110101 101111 1111111 1110101 1010111 1111111 1110111 1010101 1111101 10111 1111111 1010111 1111111 1111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 908
Words 193
Sentences 15
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 172
Words per stanza (avg) 47
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

58 sec read
106

Franklin P. Adams

Franklin Pierce Adams was an American columnist known as Franklin P. Adams and by his initials F. P. A.. Famed for his wit, he is best known for his newspaper column, "The Conning Tower", and his appearances as a regular panelist on radio's Information Please. A prolific writer of light verse, he was a member of the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s and 1930s. more…

All Franklin P. Adams poems | Franklin P. Adams Books

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