Analysis of Sensibility
Once, when a boy, I killed a cat.
I guess it's just because of that
A cat evokes my tenderness,
And takes so kindly my caress.
For with a rich, resonant purr
It sleeks an arch or ardent fur
So vibrantly against my shin;
And as I tickle tilted chin
And rub the roots of velvet ears
Its tail in undulation rears.
Then tremoring with all its might,
In blissful sensuous delight,
It looks aloft with lambent eyes,
Mystic, Egyptianly wise,
And O so eloquently tries
In every fibre to express
Consummate trust and friendliness.
I think the longer that we live
The more do we grow sensitive
Of hurt and harm to man and beast,
And learn to suffer at the least
Surmise of other's suffering;
Till pity, lie an eager spring
Wells up, and we are over-fain
To vibrate to the chords of pain.
For look you - after three-score yeas
I see with anguish nigh to tears
That starveling cat so sudden still
I set my terrier to to kill.
Great, golden memories pale away,
But that unto my dying day
Will haunt and haunt me horribly.
Why, even my poor dog felt shame
And shrank away as if to blame
of that poor mangled mother-cat
Would ever lie at his doormat.
What's done is done. No power can bring
To living joy a slaughtered thing.
Aye, if of life I gave my own
I could not for my guilt atone.
And though in stress of sea and land
Sweet breath has ended at my hand,
That boyhood killing in my eyes
A thousand must epitomize.
Yet to my twilight steals a thought:
Somehow forgiveness may be bought;
Somewhere I'll live my life again
So finely sensitized to pain,
With heart so rhymed to truth and right
That Truth will be a blaze of light;
All all the evil I have wrought
Will haggardly to home be brought. . . .
Then will I know my hell indeed,
And bleed where I made others bleed,
Till purged by penitence of sin
To Peace (or Heaven) I may win.
Well, anyway, you know the why
We are so pally, cats and I;
So if you have the gift of shame,
O Fellow-sinner, be the same.
Scheme | AAXBCCDDEEFFGGGBX XXHHIIJJ XXKKLLXMMAA IINNOOGGPXXJFFPPQQDD RRMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) Tetractys (22%) |
Metre | 11011101 11110111 01011100 01110101 11011001 11111101 110111 01110101 01011101 11011 111111 01010001 1101111 1011 01110001 010010101 10010100 11010111 01111100 11011101 01110101 01110100 11011101 11011101 11010111 11110111 11110111 1111101 111100111 110100101 11101101 11011100 11011111 01011111 11110101 1101111 111111011 11010101 11111111 11111101 01011101 11110111 1110011 0101010 1111101 1010111 1111101 1101011 11111101 11110111 11010111 111111 11111101 01111101 111111 11110111 1101101 1111101 11110111 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,944 |
Words | 379 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 17, 8, 11, 20, 4 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 302 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 75 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:55 min read
- 108 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Sensibility" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32429/sensibility>.
Discuss this Robert William Service poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In