Analysis of The Loser

Hilaire Belloc 1870 (La Celle-Saint-Cloud) – 1953



He lost his money first of all
And losing that is half the story-
And later on he tried a fall
With fate, in things less transitory
He lost his heart-and found it dead-
(His one and only true discovery),
And after that he lost his head,
And lost his chances of recovery.
He lost his honour bit by bit
Until the thing was out of question.
He worried so at losing it,
He lost his sleep and his digestion.
He lost his temper- and for good-
The remnants of his reputation,
His taste in wine, his choice of food,
And then, in rapid culmination,
His certitudes, his sense of truth,
His memory, his self control,
The love that graced his early youth,
And lastly his immortal soul.


Scheme ABABCBCBDEDEFEGEHIHI
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Etheree  (20%)
Metre 11110111 010111010 01011101 11011100 11110111 1101010100 01011111 011101010 1111111 010111110 11011101 111101010 11110011 01011010 11011111 01010010 111111 11001101 01111101 01010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 681
Words 130
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 521
Words per stanza (avg) 128
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
145

Hilaire Belloc

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902, but kept his French citizenship. more…

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