Analysis of A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices

Stephen Crane 1871 – 1900



A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices
Which, bawled by boys from mile to mile,
Spreads its curious opinion
To a million merciful and sneering men,
While families cuddle the joys of the fireside
When spurred by tale of dire lone agony.

A newspaper is a court
Where every one is kindly and unfairly tried
By a squalor of honest men.

A newspaper is a market
Where wisdom sells its freedom
And melons are crowned by the crowd.

A newspaper is a game
Where his error scores the player victory
While another's skill wins death.

A newspaper is a symbol;
It is feckless life's chronicle,
A collection of loud tales
Concentrating eternal stupidities,
That in remote ages lived unhaltered,
Roaming through a fenceless world.


Scheme AXXBCD XCB XXX XDX EEXACX
Poetic Form
Metre 01010010110100 11111111 11100010 10101000101 110010011010 1111111100 010101 1100111000101 10101101 0101010 1101110 01011101 010101 11101010100 1010111 0101010 11101100 0010111 1000101 10011011 1010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 729
Words 126
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 3, 3, 3, 6
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 117
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

38 sec read
176

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was an American politician from Elizabethtown who was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. more…

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