Analysis of Along the Way
Salt marshes, shopping cart graveyard,
Voracious mudslides suffocating tilt pour houses.
Rolling steel wheels halt only long enough to view
Richmond plastics:
Splintered windows, ghostly shades,
Gutted, burnt out interior, still recognizable by
Stubborn Brick, charred and miserable but
Ever defiant against despair.
We all jumped off that train,
Slept in the decayed monastery,
Felt spiritual awakenings.
In the presence of
An ecological wasteland.
Salt marshes offered renewal.
Never to come back,
Never to wash hands in
Motionless, gray-green pools,
Water looking like the remains of flotsam jetsam;
We linked minds in a moment of satisfaction,
A minute of resolution, an eternity of hope.
The 21st century’s a
Long way from Yasgur’s farm;
I want to tell Joni,
There is no “garden” to which we may return—
No “stardust golden” among oil refineries in
Pittsburgh, California.
Scheme | XAXXXXXX XBAXXXXCXDXX EDBXCE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011 010101001110 101111010111 1010 1010101 10110100101001 1011010001 100100101 111111 10001100 110001 00101 1001001 11010010 10111 101110 100111 101010011101 11100101010 01010101010011 0110 11111 111110 11110111101 111001101000 10010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 880 |
Words | 136 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 12, 6 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 236 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
Font size:
Submitted on July 26, 2019
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 72 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Along the Way" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/49084/along-the-way>.
Discuss this Sterling Warner poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In