Analysis of Waiting

William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)



A square, squat room (a cellar on promotion),
Drab to the soul, drab to the very daylight;
Plasters astray in unnatural-looking tinware;
Scissors and lint and apothecary's jars.

Here, on a bench a skeleton would writhe from,
Angry and sore, I wait to be admitted:
Wait till my heart is lead upon my stomach,
While at their ease two dressers do their chores.

One has a probe-it feels to me a crowbar.
A small boy sniffs and shudders after bluestone.
A poor old tramp explains his poor old ulcers.
Life is (I think) a blunder and a shame.


Scheme XXAX XXXX AXXX
Poetic Form
Metre 01110101010 1101110101 100100100101 1001011 11010100111 10011111010 11111101110 1111110111 1101111101 0111010101 01110111110 1111010001
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 533
Words 100
Sentences 7
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 139
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 06, 2023

30 sec read
226

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". more…

All William Ernest Henley poems | William Ernest Henley Books

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