Analysis of Vanity
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
My tangoing seemed to delight her;
With me it was love at first sight.
I mentioned That I was a writer:
She asked me: "What is it you write?"
"Oh, only best-sellers," I told her.
Their titles? . . . She shook her blonde head;
The atmosphere seemed to grow colder:
Not one of my books had she read.
Oh, she was a beauty ensnaring,
And I was an author of note;
But little I saw she'd be caring
If never a novel I wrote.
Alas for the caprice of Cupid!
Alack for the phantom of Fame!
I thought her just homely and stupid:
She didn't know even my name.
I saw her a score of years after;
She gushed as I took off my hat;
But inwardly loud was my laughter,
For she was enormously fat.
Thank heaven I'd not made that error;
I saw Love drive off in a hearse;
But I too retreated in terror . . .
She started to quote me my verse.
Scheme | ABABACAC DEDEXFXF AGAGAHAH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010 11111111 110111010 11111111 110110110 11011011 01011110 11111111 1110101 01111011 110111110 11001011 011001110 1101011 110110010 11011011 110011110 11111111 110011110 11101001 110111110 11111001 111010010 11011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 805 |
Words | 166 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 204 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 60 Views
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"Vanity" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32730/vanity>.
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