Analysis of The Answer
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Bill has left his house of clay,
Slammed the door and gone away:
How he laughed but yesterday!
I had two new jokes to tell,
Salty, but he loved them well:
Now I see his empty shell.
Poker-faced he looks at me;
Peeved to miss them jokes - how h
Would have belly-laughed with glee!
He gives me the pip, I swear;
Seems just like he isn't there:
Flown the coop - I wonder where?
Bill had no belief in "soul";
Thought the body was the whole,
And the grave the final goal.
Didn't reckon when we pass,
This old carcass maybe has
Spirit that sneaks out like gas.
"Look here, Bill, I'm asking you
What's the Answer? Tell me true:
Is death the end of all we do?
"Hand me out the dope - are we
No more than monkeys on a tree?"
... And then I swear to God I see
bill bat an eye and - wink at me.
Scheme | AAA BBB CXC DDD EEE FXF GGG CCCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111 1010101 111110 1111111 1011111 1111101 1011111 1111111 1110111 1110111 1111101 1011101 1110101 1010101 0010101 1010111 1110101 1011111 1111101 1010111 11011111 1110111 11110101 01111111 11110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 767 |
Words | 164 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 72 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 122 Views
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"The Answer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32472/the-answer>.
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