Analysis of Laziness
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Let laureates sing with rapturous swing
Of the wonder and glory of work;
Let pulpiteers preach and with passion impeach
The indolent wretches who shirk.
No doubt they are right: in the stress of the fight
It's the slackers who go to the wall;
So though it's my shame I perversely proclaim
It's fine to do nothing at all.
It's fine to recline on the flat of one's spine,
With never a thought in one's head:
It's lovely to le staring up at the sky
When others are earning their bread.
It's great to feel one with the soil and the sun,
Drowned deep in the grasses so tall;
Oh it's noble to sweat, pounds and dollars to get,
But - it's grand to do nothing at all.
So sing to the praise of the fellows who laze
Instead of lambasting the soil;
The vagabonds gay who lounge by the way,
Conscientious objectors to toil.
But lest you should think, by this spatter of ink,
The Muses still hold me in thrall,
I'll round out my rhyme, and (until the next time)
Work like hell - doing nothing at all.
Scheme | XAXAXBXB XCXCXBXB XDXDXBXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1100111001 101001011 111011001 0100111 11111001101 101011101 11111101001 11111011 11101101111 11001011 11010101101 11011011 11111101001 11001011 111011101011 111111011 11101101011 01101001 0100111101 01001011 11111111011 01011101 11111001011 111101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 972 |
Words | 192 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 254 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 63 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 301 Views
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"Laziness" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32210/laziness>.
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