Analysis of Idleness
Thomas Sturge Moore 1870 – 1944
O idleness, too fond of me,
Begone, I know and hate thee!
Nothing canst thou of pleasure see
In one that so doth rate thee;
For empty are both mind and heart
While thou with me dost linger;
More profit would to thee impart
A babe that sucks its finger.
I know thou hast a better way
To spend these hours thou squand'rest;
Some lad toils in the trough to-day
Who groans because thou wand'rest;
A bleating sheep he dowses now
Or wrestles with ram's terror;
Ah, 'mid the washing's hubbub, how
His sighs reproach thine error!
He knows and loves thee, Idleness;
For when his sheep are browsing,
His open eyes enchant and bless
A mind divinely drowsing;
No slave to sleep, he wills and sees
From hill-lawns the brown tillage;
Green winding lanes and clumps of trees,
Far town or nearer village,
The sea itself; the fishing feet
Where more, thine idle lovers,
Heark'ning to sea-mews find thee sweet
Like him who hears the plovers.
Begone; those haul their ropes at sea,
These plunge sheep in yon river:
Free, free from toil thy friends, and me
From Idleness deliver!
Scheme | AAAA BCBC DBDX ECEC XFXF GHGH IJIJ ACAC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11001111 111011 10111101 0111111 11011101 1111110 11011101 0111110 11110101 1111011 11100111 1101111 011111 1101110 1101101 1101110 11011100 1111110 11010101 010101 11111101 111011 11010111 1111010 01010101 1111010 1111111 1111010 1111111 1110110 11111101 1100010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,036 |
Words | 193 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 104 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 39 Views
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"Idleness" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37139/idleness>.
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