Analysis of Wife

Julian Tuwim 1894 (Łódź) – 1953 (Zakopane)



My husband is idle, is dumb and spends money.
He either stands still at the window or runs about town like a bunny.

He stares and he stares, at a tram, at the sky.
He mutters, he whistles: he rummages over the house like an amateur spy.

And then he reads books: he turns their pages at least.
There are books in the kitchen and cellar; folios mixed with the yeast.

But what is he thinking about? what does my husband mumble?
When he tries to speak he gets nervous: piles of words flurry and tumble.

In the evening he drinks, and I feel angry enough
When I see his dear eyes getting misted up with that stuff.

His eyes are misted. He takes one more dram.
He kneels down beside me and lays his head on my arm.
It is only then that I learn for the first time who I am.


Scheme AA BB CC DD EE FXF
Poetic Form
Metre 110110110110 110111010110111010 11011101101 1101101100100111101 011111111011 111001001011101 111110011111010 11111111011110010 0010110111001 1111111011111 111111111 1110110111111 111011111011111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 773
Words 155
Sentences 15
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3
Lines Amount 13
Letters per line (avg) 45
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 98
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

46 sec read
134

Julian Tuwim

Julian Tuwim, known also under the pseudonym "Oldlen" when writing song lyrics, was a Polish poet of Jewish descent, born in Łódź, Congress Poland. more…

All Julian Tuwim poems | Julian Tuwim Books

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