Analysis of Three Wives
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Said Jones: "I'm glad my wife's not clever;
Her intellect is second-rate.
If she was witty she would never
Give me a chance to scintillate;
But cap my humorous endeavour
And make me seem as addle-pate."
Said Smith: "I'm glad my wife's no beauty,
For if a siren's charm she had,
And stinted her domestic duty,
I fear that she would drive me mad:
For I am one of those sad fellows
Who are unreasonably jealous."
Said Brown: ""I know my wife's not witty,
Nor is she very long on looks;
She's neither humorous nor pretty,
But oh how she divinely cooks!
You guys must come some night to dinner -
You'll see my little girl's a winner."
So it's important in our lives,
(Exaggerating more or less),
To be content with our wives,
And prize the virtues they possess;
And with dispraise to turn one's back
On all the qualities they lack.
Scheme | ABABAB CDCDXX CECEAA XFXFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111110 0101101 111101110 110111 111100010 01111101 111111110 1101111 01001010 11111111 111111110 110100010 111111110 11110111 110100110 11110101 111111110 111101010 110100101 0100111 11101101 01010101 0111111 11010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 811 |
Words | 158 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 157 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 87 Views
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"Three Wives" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32698/three-wives>.
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