Analysis of Careers



I knew three sisters,--all were sweet;
          Wishful to wed was I,
And wondered which would mostly meet
          The matrimonial tie.
I asked the first what fate would she
          Wish joy of life to bring to her.
She answered: 'I would like to be
          A concert singer.'

I asked the second, for my mind
          Was set on nuptial noosing,
Unto what lot was she inclined
          If she could have the choosing?
Said she: 'For woman I can see
          No fortune finer,
Than to go in for Art and be
          A dress designer.'

With heavy heart I asked the third
          What was her life ambition;
A maiden she in look and word
          Of modest disposition.
'Alas, I dearly wish,' said she,
          'My aims were deeper:
My highest hope it is to be
          A good house-keeper.'

Which did I choose? Look at my home,--
          The answer's there;
As neat and sweet as honeycomb,
          With children fair.
And so it humbly seems to me,
          In common life,
A woman's glory is to be
          A good house-wife.


Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFCDCD GHGHCDCD IJIJCKCK
Poetic Form
Metre 11110101 101111 01011101 001001 11011111 11111110 11011111 01010 11010111 111101 10111101 1111010 11110111 11010 11101101 01010 11011101 1101010 01010101 110010 01110111 11010 11011111 01110 11111111 0101 1101110 1101 01110111 0101 01010111 0111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,022
Words 180
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 168
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

53 sec read
64

Robert William Service

Robert William Service was a poet and writer sometimes referred to as the Bard of the Yukon He is best-known for his writings on the Canadian North including the poems The Shooting of Dan McGrew The Law of the Yukon and The Cremation of Sam McGee His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was Robert William Service was born 16 January 1874 in Preston England but also lived in Scotland before emigrating to Canada in 1894 Service went to the Yukon Territory in 1904 as a bank clerk and became famous for his poems about this region which are mostly in his first two books of poetry He wrote quite a bit of prose as well and worked as a reporter for some time but those writings are not nearly as well known as his poems He travelled around the world quite a bit and narrowly escaped from France at the beginning of the Second World War during which time he lived in Hollywood California He died 11 September 1958 in France Incidentally he played himself in a movie called The Spoilers starring John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich more…

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