Analysis of The Lone Trail
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Ye who know the Lone Trail fain would follow it,
Though it lead to glory or the darkness of the pit.
Ye who take the Lone Trail, bid your love good-by;
The Lone Trail, the Lone Trail follow till you die.
The trails of the world be countless, and most of the trails be tried;
You tread on the heels of the many, till you come where the ways divide;
And one lies safe in the sunlight, and the other is dreary and wan,
Yet you look aslant at the Lone Trail, and the Lone Trail lures you on.
And somehow you're sick of the highway, with its noise and its easy needs,
And you seek the risk of the by-way, and you reck not where it leads.
And sometimes it leads to the desert, and the togue swells out of the mouth,
And you stagger blind to the mirage, to die in the mocking drouth.
And sometimes it leads to the mountain, to the light of the lone camp-fire,
And you gnaw your belt in the anguish of hunger-goded desire.
And sometimes it leads to the Southland, to the swamp where the orchid glows,
And you rave to your grave with the fever, and they rob the corpse for its clothes.
And sometimes it leads to the Northland, and the scurvy softens your bones,
And your flesh dints in like putty, and you spit out your teeth like stones.
And sometimes it leads to a coral reef in the wash of a weedy sea,
And you sit and stare at the empty glare where the gulls wait greedily.
And sometimes it leads to an Arctic trail, and the snows where your torn feet freeze,
And you whittle away the useless clay, and crawl on your hands and knees.
Often it leads to the dead-pit; always it leads to pain;
By the bones of your brothers ye know it, but oh, to follow you're fain.
By your bones they will follow behind you, till the ways of the world are made plain.
Bid good-by to sweetheart, bid good-by to friend;
The Lone Trail, the Lone Trail follow to the end.
Tarry not, and fear not, chosen of the true;
Lover of the Lone Trail, the Lone Trail waits for you.
Scheme | AABB CCDDEEFFGGXXHHIIJJKKK LLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101111101 1111101010101 11101111111 01101110111 011011100110111 11101101011110101 0111001001011001 111110110011111 011110111101101 0110110110111111 00111101000111101 0110110011100101 001111010101101110 0111100101101010 0011110110110101 011111101001101111 001111010011011 0111011001111111 001111010100110101 01101101011011100 001111110100111111 01100101010111101 1011101111111 10111101111111011 1111110011101101111 1111111111 01101110101 10101110101 101011011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,924 |
Words | 382 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 21, 4 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 52 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 500 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 127 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 1:55 min read
- 48 Views
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"The Lone Trail" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32579/the-lone-trail>.
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