Analysis of One Sorrowful Truth
He persuaded a hate
in a phase of elation,
and devised a vain plot:
Large-scale extermination;
A genocidal notion for elimination;
The tragic operation:
Eradicate them, through and through.
First, relinquish possessions
And tear whole families in two.
Leave them grasping to the Cliff of Life with nothing else to lose.
He installed ignorance,
and like cattle up a ramp,
they board without question
Into the freights black and damp.
A fateful ride on Hell's rails to a Nazi death camp.
The simple freedoms once known
were privileges left stranded.
Some naked, showered, shaven,
stripped of surname and branded;
The "less than fortunate" others dug unmarked graves to land in.
He devoured morale;
This was not a meager meal;
As opposed to their fill:
Grass stew from the barren field,
A scrap of bread crust and a choice: hoard or yield?
The faint and lost expressions
shone at the grueling toils they faced
while fear formed a foul aura
And a pungent stench of death traced.
Arduous times called for tests of faith in a desolate place.
He darkened a people,
yet they strive to overcome
one grim, sorrowful truth
Of their fellow kin gone numb.
A telltale purpose reigning from the Cloudy Kingdom.
Scheme | XAXAA ABCBX XDADD XXAXX XXXEE CFXFX XGXGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101001 0011010 001011 110010 01001010010 010010 0101101 1010010 01110001 111010111110111 101100 0110101 110110 0101101 0101111101011 0101011 0100110 1101010 111010 011100101011110 101001 1110101 101111 1110101 01111001111 0101010 110100111 1110110 00101111 100111111001001 110010 111110 111001 1110111 011010101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,204 |
Words | 235 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 137 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
About this poem
I had written this poem as an English project in 11th grade. The project had us write (using any format) about the Holocaust. My teacher, Mrs. Williams, said it had "award-winning potential", and I have not ever attempted to submit it into a poetry contest, until now.
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"One Sorrowful Truth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/184968/one-sorrowful-truth>.
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