Analysis of A Plea
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Why need we newer arms invent,
Poor peoples to destroy?
With what we have let's be content
And perfect their employ.
With weapons that may millions kill,
Why should we seek for more,
A brighter spate of blood to spill,
A deeper sea of gore?
The lurid blaze of atom light
Vast continents will blind,
And steep in centuries of night
Despairing humankind.
So let's be glad for gun and blade,
To fight with honest stuff:
Are tank, block-buster, hand-grenade
And napalm not enough?
Oh to go back a thousand years
When arrows winged their way,
When foemen fell upon the spears
And swords were swung to slay!
Behold! Belching in Heaven black
Mushrooms obscene!
Dear God, the brave days give us back,
When wars were clean!
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme |
Metre | 11110101 110101 11111110 001101 11011101 111111 01011111 010111 01011101 110011 01010011 01010 11111101 111101 11110101 010101 11110101 110111 1110101 010111 01100101 1001 11011111 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 774 |
Words | 129 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 188 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 10, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 113 Views
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"A Plea" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31953/a-plea>.
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