Analysis of Next Year

Margaret Widdemer 1884 (Doylestown) – 1978



Up and down the street I know,
Now that there are Grief and War,
All day long the people go
As they went before;
But when now the lads go by–
Careless look and careless glance–
My heart wonders– 'Which shall lie
Still next year in France?'
When the girls go fluttering–
Flushing cheek and tossing head–
My heart asks– 'Next year shall bring
Which a lover dead?'
Lord, let peace be kind and fleet–
Put an end to Grief and War;
Let them walk the little street
Careless as before!


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGBGB
Poetic Form
Metre 1010111 1111101 1110101 11101 1110111 1010101 1110111 11101 1011100 1010101 1111111 10101 1111101 1111101 1110101 10101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 487
Words 95
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 368
Words per stanza (avg) 91
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
37

Margaret Widdemer

Margaret Widdemer was a U.S. poet and novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1919 for her collection The Old Road to Paradise, shared with Carl Sandburg for Cornhuskers. more…

All Margaret Widdemer poems | Margaret Widdemer Books

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