Analysis of A Street Corner
Robert Fuller Murray 1863 – 1894
Here, where the thoroughfares meet at an angle
Of ninety degrees (this angle is right),
You may hear the loafers that jest and wrangle
Through the sun-lit day and the lamp-lit night;
Though day be dreary and night be wet,
You will find a ceaseless concourse met;
Their laughter resounds and their Fife tongues jangle,
And now and again their Fife fists fight.
Often here the voice of the crier
Heralds a sale in the City Hall,
And slowly but surely drawing nigher
Is heard the baker's bugle call.
The baker halts where the two ways meet,
And the blast, though loud, is far from sweet
That with breath of bellows and heart of fire
He blows, till the echoes leap from the wall.
And on Saturday night just after eleven,
When the taverns have closed a moment ago,
The vocal efforts of six or seven
Make the corner a place of woe.
For the time is fitful, the notes are queer,
And it sounds to him who dwelleth near
Like the wailing for cats in a feline heaven
By orphan cats who are left below.
Wherefore, O Bejant, Son of the Morning,
Fresh as a daisy dipt in the dew,
Hearken to me and receive my warning:
Though rents be heavy, and bunks be few
And most of them troubled with rat or mouse,
Never take rooms in a corner house;
Or sackcloth and ashes and sad self-scorning
Shall be for a portion unto you.
Scheme | ABABCCAB DEDEFFDE GHGHIIGH JKJKLLHK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011110 1100111011 11101011010 1011100111 111100111 11101011 1101011110 010011111 101011010 100100101 010110101 11010101 010110111 001111111 11111001110 1110101101 011001110010 10101101001 0101011110 10100111 1011100111 01111111 10101100110 110111101 11111010 110101001 111001110 111100111 0111101111 101100101 110100111 111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,278 |
Words | 248 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 255 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 33 Views
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"A Street Corner" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30970/a-street-corner>.
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