Analysis of Yellow
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
One pearly day in early May I walked upon the sand
And saw, say half a mile away, a man with gun in hand.
A dog was cowering to his will as slow he sought to creep
Upon a dozen ducks so still they seemed to be asleep.
When like a streak the dog dashed out, the ducks flashed up in flight.
The fellow gave a savage shout and cursed with all his might.
Then as I stood somewhat amazed and gazed with eyes agog,
With bitter rage his gun he raised and blazed and shot the dog.
You know how dogs can yelp with pain; its blood soaked in the sand,
And yet it crawled to him again, and tried to lick his hand.
'Forgive me Lord for what I've done,' it seemed as if it said,
But once again he raised his gun -- this time he shot it dead.
What could I do? What could I say? 'Twas such a lonely place.
Tongue-tied I watched him stride away, I never saw his face.
I should have bawled the bastard out, a yellow dog he slew.
But worse, he proved beyond a doubt that - I was yellow too.
Scheme | AABB CCXX AADD EEFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 11010101110101 01110101011101 011100111111111 01010111111101 11010111011101 01010101011111 11111101011101 11011111010101 11111111111001 01111101011111 01111111111111 11011111111111 11111111110101 11111101110111 11110101010111 11110101111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 966 |
Words | 204 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 185 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 413 Views
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"Yellow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32763/yellow>.
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