Analysis of The Joy Of Little Things
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
It's good the great green earth to roam,
Where sights of awe the soul inspire;
But oh, it's best, the coming home,
The crackle of one's own hearth-fire!
You've hob-nobbed with the solemn Past;
You've seen the pageantry of kings;
Yet oh, how sweet to gain at last
The peace and rest of Little Things!
Perhaps you're counted with the Great;
You strain and strive with mighty men;
Your hand is on the helm of State;
Colossus-like you stride . . . and then
There comes a pause, a shining hour,
A dog that leaps, a hand that clings:
O Titan, turn from pomp and power;
Give all your heart to Little Things.
Go couch you childwise in the grass,
Believing it's some jungle strange,
Where mighty monsters peer and pass,
Where beetles roam and spiders range.
'Mid gloom and gleam of leaf and blade,
What dragons rasp their painted wings!
O magic world of shine and shade!
O beauty land of Little Things!
I sometimes wonder, after all,
Amid this tangled web of fate,
If what is great may not be small,
And what is small may not be great.
So wondering I go my way,
Yet in my heart contentment sings . . .
O may I ever see, I pray,
God's grace and love in Little Things.
So give to me, I only beg,
A little roof to call my own,
A little cider in the keg,
A little meat upon the bone;
A little garden by the sea,
A little boat that dips and swings . . .
Take wealth, take fame, but leave to me,
O Lord of Life, just Little Things.
Scheme | AXABCDCD EFEFBDBD GHGHIDID JEJEKDKD LMLMNDND |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011111 11110101 11110101 010111110 11110101 11010011 11111111 01011101 01110101 11011101 11110111 01011101 110101010 01110111 110111010 11111101 1111001 01011101 11010101 11010101 11011101 11011101 11011101 11011101 10110101 01110111 11111111 01111111 11001111 10110101 11110111 11010101 11111101 01011111 01010001 01010101 01010101 01011101 11111111 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,385 |
Words | 270 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 214 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:23 min read
- 938 Views
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"The Joy Of Little Things" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32561/the-joy-of-little-things>.
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