Analysis of The Fisher’s Boy
Henry David Thoreau 1817 (Concord) – 1862 (Concord)
MY life is like a stroll upon the beach,
As near the ocean’s edge as I can go;
My tardy steps its waves sometimes o’erreach,
Sometimes I stay to let them overflow.
My sole employment is, and scrupulous care,
To place my gains beyond the reach of tides,—
Each smoother pebble, and each shell more rare,
Which Ocean kindly to my hand confides.
I have but few companions on the shore:
They scorn the strand who sail upon the sea;
Yet oft I think the ocean they’ve sailed o’er
Is deeper known upon the strand to me.
The middle sea contains no crimson dulse,
Its deeper waves cast up no pearls to view;
Along the shore my hand is on its pulse,
And I converse with many a shipwrecked crew.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD XECE DFXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111010101 1101011111 110111011 011111110 11010101001 1111010111 1101001111 1101011101 1111010101 1101110101 1111010111 1101010111 0101011101 1101111111 0101111111 0110110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 689 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 120 Views
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"The Fisher’s Boy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17350/the-fisher%E2%80%99s-boy>.
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