Analysis of Elementalist
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Could Fate ordain a lot for me
Beyond all human ills,
I think that I would choose to be
A shephard of the hills;
With shaggy cloak and cape where skies
Eternally are blue
How I would stare with quiet eyes
At passing you!
And you would stare at static me,
Beside my patient flock;
And I would watch you silently,
A one with time and rock.
Then foreign farings you would chart,
And fly with fearsome wings,
While I would bide to be a part
Of elemental things.
Yet strangely I would have it so,
Since I am kin to these,--
To heather heath and bloom ablow,
And peaks and piney trees.
As diamond star at evenfall,
And pearly morning mist
Sing in my veins, myself I call
An Elementalist.
So as in city dirt and din
I push a grubby pen,
And toil, my bed and board to win,
I hate the haunts of men.
Beyond brick wall I seem to see
Fern dells and rocky rills . . .
O crazy dream! O God, to be
A shephard of the hills!
Scheme | abaBcdcd aeaefgfg xhdhdxxf ijijabaB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 011101 11111111 010101 11010111 010011 11111101 1101 01111101 011101 01111100 011101 1101111 011101 11111101 10101 11011111 111111 1101011 01011 110111 010101 1011111 11 11010101 110101 01110111 110111 01111111 110101 11011111 010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,090 |
Words | 184 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 174 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 124 Views
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"Elementalist" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32096/elementalist>.
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