Analysis of Worn Out
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
You bid me hold my peace
And dry my fruitless tears,
Forgetting that I bear
A pain beyond my years.
You say that I should smile
And drive the gloom away;
I would, but sun and smiles
Have left my life's dark day.
All time seems cold and void,
And naught but tears remain;
Life's music beats for me
A melancholy strain.
I used at first to hope,
But hope is past and, gone;
And now without a ray
My cheerless life drags on.
Like to an ash-stained hearth
When all its fires are spent;
Like to an autumn wood
By storm winds rudely shent,--
So sadly goes my heart,
Unclothed of hope and peace;
It asks not joy again,
But only seeks release.
Scheme | AXXX XBXB CDXD XXBX XXXC XAXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (67%) |
Metre | 111111 011101 010111 010111 111111 010101 111101 111111 111101 011101 110111 01001 111111 111101 010101 11111 111111 1111011 111101 111101 110111 11101 111101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 619 |
Words | 127 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 81 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 68 Views
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"Worn Out" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29015/worn-out>.
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