Analysis of The Receptionist
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
France is the fairest land on earth,
Lovely to heart's desire,
And twice a year I span its girth,
Its beauty to admire.
But when a pub I seek each night,
To my profound vexation
On form they hand me I've to write
My occupation.
So once in a derisive mood
My pen I nibbled;
And though I know I never should:
'Gangster' I scribbled.
But as the clerk with startled face
Looked stark suspicion,
I blurred it out and in its place
Put 'Politician.'
Then suddenly dissolved his frown;
His face fused to a grin,
As humorously he set down
The form I handed in.
His shrug was eloquent to view.
Quoth he: 'What's in a name?
In France, alas! the lousy two
Are just the same.'
Scheme | AXAXBCBC XDXDECEC CCCCFGFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 1011010 01011111 110101 11011111 11011 11111111 1010 11000101 11110 01111101 10110 11011101 11010 11110011 1010 11000111 111101 11000111 011100 11110011 111001 01010101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 798 |
Words | 132 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 169 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 36 Views
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"The Receptionist" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32624/the-receptionist>.
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