Analysis of The Salt of the Earth
IF childhood were not in the world,
But only men and women grown;
No baby-locks in tendrils curled,
No baby-blossoms blown;
Though men were stronger, women fairer,
And nearer all delights in reach,
And verse and music uttered rarer
Tones of more godlike speech;
Though the utmost life of life’s best hours
Found, as it cannot now find, words;
Though desert sands were sweet as flowers
And flowers could sing like birds,
But children never heard them, never
They felt a child’s foot leap and run:
This were a drearier star than ever
Yet looked upon the sun.
| Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF CGCG |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain |
| Metre | 1101001 11010101 1101011 110101 110101010 01010101 010101010 11111 101111110 11110111 110101110 0101111 110101110 11011101 10011110 110101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 553 |
| Words | 100 |
| Sentences | 2 |
| Stanzas | 4 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 16 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 110 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 30 sec read
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"The Salt of the Earth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1423/the-salt-of-the-earth>.
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