Analysis of The Word Of An Engineer
James Weldon Johnson 1871 (Jacksonville) – 1938 (Wiscasset)
'She's built of steel
From deck to keel,
And bolted strong and tight;
In scorn she'll sail
The fiercest gale,
And pierce the darkest night.
'The builder's art
Has proved each part
Throughout her breadth and length;
Deep in the hulk,
Of her mighty bulk,
Ten thousand Titans' strength.'
The tempest howls,
The Ice Wolf prowls,
The winds they shift and veer,
But calm I sleep,
And faith I keep
In the word of an engineer.
Along the trail
Of the slender rail
The train, like a nightmare, flies
And dashes on
Through the black-mouthed yawn
Where the cavernous tunnel lies.
Over the ridge,
Across the bridge,
Swung twixt the sky and hell,
On an iron thread
Spun from the head
Of the man in a draughtsman's cell.
And so we ride
Over land and tide,
Without a thought of fear—
Man never had
The faith in God
That he has in an engineer!
Scheme | AABCCB DDEFFE GGHIIH CCJXXJ KKLMML NNH XXH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 1111 010101 0111 0101 010101 0101 1111 010101 1001 10101 110101 0101 0111 011101 1111 0111 00111101 0101 10101 011011 0101 10111 10100101 1001 0101 110101 11101 1101 1010011 0111 10101 010111 1101 0101 11101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 801 |
Words | 157 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 27, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 82 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Word Of An Engineer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20744/the-word-of-an-engineer>.
Discuss this James Weldon Johnson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In