Analysis of No Sunday Chicken
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I could have sold him up because
His rent was long past due;
And Grimes, my lawyer, said it was
The proper thing to do:
But how could I be so inhuman?
And me a gentle-woman.
Yet I am poor as chapel mouse,
Pinching to make ends meet,
And have to let my little house
To buy enough to eat:
Why, even now to keep agoing
I have to take in sewing.
Sylvester is a widowed man,
Clerk in a hardware store;
I guess he does the best he can
To feed his kiddies four:
It sure is hard,--don't think it funny,
I've lately loaned him money.
I want to wipe away a tear
Even to just suppose
Some monster of an auctioneer
Might sell his sticks and clothes:
I'd rather want for bread and butter
Than see them in the gutter.
A silly, soft old thing am I,
But oh them kiddies four!
I guess I'll make a raisin pie
And leave it at their door . . .
Some Sunday, dears, you'll share my dream,--
Fried chicken and ice-cream.
Scheme | XAXABB CDCDEE FGFGHH XXXXII JGJGKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (27%) |
Metre | 11111101 111111 01110111 010111 111111010 0101010 11111101 101111 01111101 110111 1101111 1111010 01010101 10011 11110111 111101 111111110 1101110 11110101 101101 1101101 111101 110111010 1110010 01011111 111101 11110101 011111 1111111 110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 972 |
Words | 182 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 135 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 49 Views
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"No Sunday Chicken" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32328/no-sunday-chicken>.
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