Analysis of At The Parade
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I cannot flap a flag
Or beat a drum;
Behind the mob I lag
With larynx dumb;
Alas! I fear I'm not
A Patriot.
With acrid eyes I see
The soul of things;
And equal unto me
Are cooks and kings;
I would not cross the street
A duke to meet.
Oh curse me for a fool
To be so proud;
To stand so still and cool
Amid the crowd.
For President or Peer
God, let me cheer!
But no, despite the glee
My heart is cold;
I think that it may be
Because I'm old;
I'm dumb where millions yell . . .
Oh what the hell!
Scheme | ABABXX CDCDEE FGFGHH CICIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 1101 010111 1101 011111 0100 110111 0111 010101 1101 111101 0111 111101 1111 111101 0101 11011 1111 110101 1111 111111 0111 111101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 597 |
Words | 107 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 15 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 39 Views
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"At The Parade" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31992/at-the-parade>.
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