Analysis of Which Has More Patience -- Man or Woman?

Lucy Maud Montgomery 1874 (New London, Prince Edward Island) – 1942 (Toronto)



As my letter must be brief,
I'll at once state my belief,
And this it is -- that, since the world began,
And Adam first did say,
"'Twas Eve led me astray,"
A woman hath more patience than a man.

If a man's obliged to wait
For some one who's rather late,
No mortal ever got in such a stew,
And if something can't be found
That he's sure should be around,
The listening air sometimes grows fairly blue.

Just watch a man who tries
To soothe a baby's cries;
Or put a stove pipe up in weather cold,
Into what a state he'll get;
How he'll fuss and fume and fret
And stamp and bluster round and storm and scold!

Some point to Job with pride,
As an argument for their side!
Why, it was so rare a patient man to see,
That when one was really found,
His discoverers were bound
To preserve for him a place in history!

And while I admit it's true
That man has some patience too,
And that woman isn't always sweetly calm,
Still I think all must agree
On this central fact -- that she
For central all-round patience bears the palm.


Scheme AABCCB DDEFFE GGHIIH JJKFFK EELKKL
Poetic Form Etheree  (23%)
Metre 1110111 1111101 0111110101 010111 111101 0101110101 1010111 1111101 1101010101 0110111 1111101 01001011101 110111 110101 1101110101 0110111 1110101 0101010101 111111 11100111 11111010111 1111101 1101 10111010100 0110111 1111101 0110101101 1111101 1110111 1101110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 998
Words 203
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 155
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:03 min read
117

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE, called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L. more…

All Lucy Maud Montgomery poems | Lucy Maud Montgomery Books

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