Analysis of A Mediocre Man
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I'm just a mediocre man
Of no high-brow pretence;
A comfortable life I plan
With care and commonsense.
I do the things most people do,
I echo what they say;
And through my morning paper view
The problems of the day.
No doubt you think I'm colourless,
Profoundly commonplace;
And yet I fancy, more or less,
I represent the race.
My name may stand for everyone,
At least for nine in ten,
For all in all the world is run
By mediocre men.
Of course you'll maybe not agree
That you are average,
And unlike ordinary me
You strut your little stage,
Well, you may even own a Bank,
And mighty mergers plan,
But Brother, doff your tile and thank
The Mediocre Man.
Scheme | ABABCBCX BBBBDEDE FXFXGAGA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1100101 11111 01000111 11001 11011101 110111 01110101 010101 111111 01010 01110111 10101 1111110 111101 11010111 10101 11110101 111100 0011001 111101 11110101 010101 11011101 00101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 698 |
Words | 125 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 169 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 90 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Mediocre Man" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31952/a-mediocre-man>.
Discuss this Robert William Service poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In