Analysis of Office Mottoes

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



Motto heartening, inspiring,
  Framed above my pretty *desk,
Never Shelley, Keats, or Byring*
  Penned a phrase so picturesque!
But in me no inspiration
  Rides my low and prosy brow-
All I think of is vacation
When I see that lucubration:

DO IT NOW

When I see another sentence
  Framed upon a brother's wall,
Resolution and repentance
  Do not flood o'er me at all
As I read that nugatory
  Counsel written years ago,
Only when one comes to borry[Footnote: Entered under the Pure License of
                            1906.]
Do I heed that ancient story:

TELL HIM NO

Mottoes flat and mottoes silly,
    Proverbs void of point or wit,
'KEEP A-PLUGGIN' WHEN IT'S HILLY!'
    'LIFE'S A TIGER: CONQUER IT!'
Office mottoes make me weary
    And of all the bromide bunch
There is only one I seri-
Ously like, and that's the cheery:

GONE TO LUNCH


Scheme AXAXBCBB C DEDECFXXG F GHGHGICG I
Poetic Form
Metre 10100010 1011101 1010111 1011100 1011010 111011 11111010 11111 111 11101010 1010101 0100010 11110111 11111 1010101 1011111101001101 1 11111010 111 110110 1011111 1011110 1010101 1011110 011011 1110111 1101010 111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 854
Words 146
Sentences 5
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 8, 1, 9, 1, 8, 1
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 103
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
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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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