Analysis of O Lovely Lie



I told a truth, a tragic truth
          That tore the sullen sky;
A million shuddered at my sooth
          And anarchist was I.
Red righteousness was in my word
          To winnow evil chaff;
Yet while I swung crusading sword
          I heard the devil laugh.

I framed a lie, a rainbow lie
          To glorify a thought;
And none was so surprised as I
          When fast as fire it caught.
Like honey people lapped my lie
          And peddled it abroad,
Till in a lift of sunny sky
          I saw the smile of God.

If falsehood may be best, I thought,
          To hell with verity;
Dark truth may be a cancer spot
          'Twere better not to see.
Aye, let a lie be big and bold
          Yet ripe with hope and ruth,
Beshrew me! but its heart may hold
          More virtue than the truth.


Scheme ABABXCXC BDBEBXBX DFEFGAGA
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101 110101 01010111 010011 11001011 11101 11110101 110101 1101011 11001 01110111 1111011 11010111 010101 10011101 110111 1111111 111100 11110101 110111 11011101 111101 1111111 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 786
Words 141
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 175
Words per stanza (avg) 46
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
124

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…

All Robert William Service poems | Robert William Service Books

7 fans

Discuss this Robert William Service poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "O Lovely Lie" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32330/o-lovely-lie>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    May 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    30
    days
    5
    hours
    37
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    "If ever two were one, then surely we."
    A Hilda Doolittle
    B Anne Sexton
    C Sylvia Plath
    D Anne Bradstreet