Analysis of The Empty Bed
A father teaches a son
everything he knows . . .
Sometimes, it
isn’t enough
Furrows plowing, seedlings
dying, a daughter screams,
As young Johnny goes off
to the city
A step-child of his
own desire
Wandering the avenues
and alleyways
Searching high in the lights
for his name
But only a shadow
comes down from the neon
Dark and invisible
as he walks
A soul without
acceptance
A new emptiness fills
the hardened cracks,
—and hallowing cement void
Where the stench of severed roots
and singed beginnings,
—meet and die
And from 1000 miles
a father walks in the darkness,
—ancient and alone
Passing an empty bed
in a dimly lit country hallway,
—asking why
(Chicago Illinois: July, 1977)
Scheme | XX XX AX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXX XAB XXX XXB B |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101001 1011 011 101 11010 100101 111011 1010 01111 1010 100010 010 101001 111 11001 111010 100100 111 0101 010 011001 0101 01011 1011101 01010 101 011 01010010 10001 101101 00101101 101 01011 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 703 |
Words | 117 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 16 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 36 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 8 |
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"The Empty Bed" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/45337/the-empty-bed>.
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