Analysis of Decadence
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Before the florid portico
I watched the gamblers come and go,
While by me on a bench there sat
A female in a faded hat;
A shabby, shrinking, crumpled creature,
Of waxy casino-ward with eyes
Of lost soul seeking paradise.
Then from the Café de la Paix
There shambled forth a waiter fellow,
Clad dingily, down-stooped and grey,
With hollow face, careworn and yellow.
With furtive feet before our seat
He came to a respectful stand,
And bowed, my sorry crone to greet,
Saying: "Princess, I kiss your hand."
She gave him such a gracious smile,
And bade him linger by her side;
So there they talked a little while
Of kingly pomp and country pride;
Of Marquis This and Prince von That,
Of Old Vienna, glamour gay. . . .
Then sad he rose and raised his hat:
Saying: "My tables I must lay."
"Yea, you must go, dear Count," she said,
"For luncheon tables must be laid."
He sighed: from his alpaca jacket
He pressed into her hand a packet,
"Sorry, to-day it's all I'm rich in -
A chicken sandwich from the kitchen."
Then bowed and left her after she
Had thanked him with sweet dignity.
She pushed the package out of sight,
Within her bag and closed it tight;
But by and bye I saw her go
To where thick laurel bushes grow,
And there behind that leafy screen,
Thinking herself by all unseen,
That sandwich! How I saw her grab it,
And gulp it like a starving rabbit!
Thinks I: Is all that talk a bluff -
Their dukes and kings and courtly stuff:
The way she ate, why one would say
She hadn't broken fast all day.
Scheme | AABBXCX CADAEFEF GHGHBDBD XXIIXXJJ KKAALLXI MMDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101010 11010101 11110111 0100101 010101010 110010111 1111010 1101111 11101010 111101 11011010 110101101 11100101 01110111 10101111 11110101 01110101 11110101 11010101 1110111 11010101 11110111 10110111 11111111 11010111 111101010 110101010 101111110 010101010 11010101 11111100 11010111 01010111 11011101 11110101 01011101 10011101 110111011 011101010 11111101 11010101 01111111 11010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,471 |
Words | 287 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 43 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 191 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:25 min read
- 116 Views
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"Decadence" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32072/decadence>.
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