Analysis of Unfit
Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931
With younger men he takes his stand,
To the recruiting-sergeant nigh,
Sees others chosen: lifts a hand
In hopes to catch the unwilling eye,
While his mood turns to black despair
Heedless of those that grin and stare.
Careless of jibe and jeer he waits,
Thrusts himself where the eye must fall,
A voice, indifferent as Fate's,
Orders 'Stand back!' and that is all.
'Too old!' He steps down to make room
For younger men more slow to come.
Too old at fifty! But he feels
There's lots of fighting in him yet.
Some hint of glory lifts, reveals,
In the smirched days he would forget.
They might blot out the shameful past
If he fell fighting at the last.
If he could meet them, one poor rag
Of glory cast about his shame --
One rag of glory! England's flag
Wrapping in splendour his poor frame!
And all the people he once knew
Saying 'He died as white men do!'
Mirage! Such dreams as come with sleep!
And he is innocent and small,
Running through orchard grasses deep
To his dead mother's tender call;
Before he broke her heart and bowed
His father's comely head and proud.
There's nothing left to hope for more.
Poor fool, to think he might atone!
He sees in a mist a fast-shut door.
Shambling and blear-eyed and alone
He goes, and darkness covers him,
Who saw the glory and the gleam.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEXX FGFGHH IJIJKK LELEMM NONOXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 10010101 11010101 011100101 11111101 1111101 10110111 10110111 0101011 10110111 11111111 11011111 11110111 11110011 11110101 00111101 11110101 11110101 11111111 11010111 11110101 1001111 01010111 10111111 01111111 01110001 10110101 11110101 01110101 11010101 11011111 11111101 110010111 1011001 11010101 11010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,253 |
Words | 243 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 165 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 47 Views
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"Unfit" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25090/unfit>.
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