Analysis of The Turn Of The Road
Roderic Quinn 1867 (Surry Hills, New South Wales) – 1949 (Darlinghurst, New South Wales)
WHERE confident, calm I strode,
I walk with hesitant feet;
For at yonder turn of the road
What shall I meet?
The youth of the day has gone,
And my shadow goes before;
I know that the road runs on —
I know no more.
I have travelled a goodly way,
As one at a glance may see,
Since the East and the break o' day
Called out to me.
Though the highway be hard to miss
With its signs and stones and such,
The worst of the road is this —
It turns too much.
For a part of its length it flows
(Too brief is that stretch, alas!)
'Twixt hedges of palm and rose,
O'er fern and grass.
The butterfly fancies flit
On their lit wings, gossamer-frail;
And a host of roysterers sit
At cakes and ale.
With the flight of their glory hour,
The Fancies flutter and die;
And the nectared heart of the flower
Grows sere and dry.
Though the cakes and ale are done,
And the roysterer's moment gone,
Yet under the slanting sun
The road winds on.
Good-bye to the flower and fern,
And the hedges at each grass-side! —
Maybe at the next road-turn
New pleasures hide.
New pleasures? 'Tis turned, and lo!
Hot miles and a driving dust
'Twixt trees that are grey as woe,
Gnarled limbs out-thrust!
Yet Hope is a bright allure,
A light in the hearts of men —
At the end of a league, for sure,
'Twill turn again.
Though the highway be hard to miss
With its signs and stones and such,
The best of the road is this —
It turns so much!
Towards the turn of the roadway you
I walk with hesitant feet;
When I come to the turn, anon —
What shall I meet?
Scheme | aBaBcdedfgfgHIhijkjklmlmnonopcpeqrqrststuvuvHIhiwBcB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1100111 1111001 11101101 1111 0110111 011101 1110111 1111 11100101 1110111 10100111 1111 1011111 1110101 0110111 1111 10111111 1111101 1101101 10101 010101 11111001 001111 1101 101111010 0101001 00111010 1101 1010111 001101 1100101 0111 11101001 00101111 1010111 1101 1101101 1100101 1111111 1111 1110101 0100111 10110111 1101 1011111 1110101 0110111 1111 01011011 1111001 1111011 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,477 |
Words | 304 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 52 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,146 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 301 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 15, 2023
- 1:31 min read
- 38 Views
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"The Turn Of The Road" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32985/the-turn-of-the-road>.
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