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 Views
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"The Loser" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19239/the-loser>.
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