Analysis of The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
A little colt — broncho, loaned to the farm
To be broken in time without fury or harm,
Yet black crows flew past you, shouting alarm,
Calling "Beware," with lugubrious singing...
The butterflies there in the bush were romancing,
The smell of the grass caught your soul in a trance,
So why be a-fearing the spurs and the traces,
O broncho that would not be broken of dancing?
You were born with the pride of the lords great and olden
Who danced, through the ages, in corridors golden.
In all the wide farm-place the person most human.
You spoke out so plainly with squealing and capering,
With whinnying, snorting, contorting and prancing,
As you dodged your pursuers, looking askance,
With Greek-footed figures, and Parthenon paces,
O broncho that would not be broken of dancing.
The grasshoppers cheered. "Keep whirling," they said.
The insolent sparrows called from the shed
"If men will not laugh, make them wish they were dead."
But arch were your thoughts, all malice displacing,
Though the horse-killers came, with snake-whips advancing.
You bantered and cantered away your last chance.
And they scourged you, with Hell in their speech and their faces,
O broncho that would not be broken of dancing.
"Nobody cares for you," rattled the crows,
As you dragged the whole reaper, next day, down the rows.
The three mules held back, yet you danced on your toes.
You pulled like a racer, and kept the mules chasing.
You tangled the harness with bright eyes side-glancing,
While the drunk driver bled you — a pole for a lance —
And the giant mules bit at you — keeping their places.
O broncho that would not be broken of dancing.
In that last afternoon your boyish heart broke.
The hot wind came down like a sledge-hammer stroke.
The blood-sucking flies to a rare feast awoke.
And they searched out your wounds, your death-warrant tracing.
And the merciful men, their religion enhancing,
Stopped the red reaper, to give you a chance.
Then you died on the prairie, and scorned all disgraces,
O broncho that would not be broken of dancing.
Scheme | aaabbcdB eeebbcxB fffbbcdB gggbbcdB hhhbbccB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 010111101 111001011011 1111111001 10011010010 01010010010 01101111001 111010010010 11111110110 1011011011010 111010010010 010111010110 11111011001 11101010 11110101001 11101001010 11111110110 010111011 0100101101 11111111101 11011110010 101101111010 1100101111 0111110110110 11111110110 11111001 111011011101 01111111111 111010010110 110010111110 101101101101 0010111110110 11111110110 0110111011 01111101101 01101101101 011111111010 0010011010010 1011011101 11110100111 11111110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,013 |
Words | 358 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 320 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 70 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 202 Views
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"The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37346/the-broncho-that-would-not-be-broken>.
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