Analysis of The Decision



Said she: 'Although my husband Jim
     Is with his home content,
I never should have married him,
     We are so different.
Oh yes, I know he loves me well,
     Our children he adores;
But he's so dull, and I rebel
     Against a life that bores.

'Of course there is another man,
     Quite pennyless is he;
And yet with hope and joy we plan
     A home beyond the sea.
Though I forfeit the name of wife
     And neighbours ostracise,
Such happiness will crown our life
     Their censure we'll despise.

'But then what will my children think,
     Whose love is pure and true?'
Said I: 'Your memory will stink
     If they should speak of you.
Your doting Jim will curse your name,
     And if you make a mess
Of life, oh do not in your shame
     Dare hope for happiness.'

Well, still with Jim she lives serene,
     And has of kiddies three.
'Oh what a fool I might have been
     To leave my home,' says she.
'Of course Jim is a priceless bore,
     But he's so sweet to me . . .
Come darling won't you let me pour
     Another cup of tea?'


Scheme AXAXXBXB CDCDEBEX FGFGHXHX XDXDIDID
Poetic Form
Metre 1111101 111110 11011101 111100 11111111 1010101 11110110 010111 11110101 1111 01110111 010101 11100111 011 110011101 110101 11111101 111101 11110011 111111 11011111 011101 11111011 111100 11111101 011101 11011111 111111 11110101 111111 11011111 010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,022
Words 194
Sentences 14
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 183
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

58 sec read
76

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…

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