Analysis of City of Dreams
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Oh, we might have a marvellous city
Were we only less keen on cash
Less avid for things - more's the pity
That fade and are gone in a flash,
A city where duffers in my line
In wrapt adoration fall flat
To behold its superlative skyline
But there isn't much money in that.
Oh, we might have a city most splendid
Were sordid self-seeking denied.
Were good taste and culture attended
By pride that transcends money-pride.
Then, urged by more glorious dreaming
Than moved beneath Pericles' hat,
We would out-Athens Athens in scheming
But - there isn't much money in that.
So let's build our city according
To canons commercial and sane.
Where every house is a hoarding
And every 'palace' a pain.
Let us mingle the Gothic and Moorish
In the nice neo-Georgian flat.
What odds, tho' they blither it's boorish?
Who cares? For there's money in that.
Oh, let's have a conglomeration
Of all architectural ills.
We build for ouselves, not th enation,
And to advertise somebody's pills
With piles that are proud and pretentious
And styles that are 'pretty' and fat.
And a fig for their strictures sententious!
There's not a brass farthing in that.
And so we'll grow richer and richer
While curleywigs crawl the facade
Of the home of the sur-super-picture
Or pubs where the profits are made.
Yet - We might have a marvellous city
If we only knew how to grow fat
At the game. But we don't - more's the pity.
So there isn't much money in that.
And when we have piled up the riches,
And pass, and leave never a trace,
A grave-digger, with clay on his breeches,
Will come and pitch dirt on our face.
And our passing may serve to remind him,
As he gives the grave-mound a last pat:
'Well, he's gone; and he's left nought behind him,
And there isn't much honor in that.'
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGDGD GHGHIDID XJCJXDJD KXKXADAD XLJLMDMD |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110110 01101111 110111010 11011001 01011011 0101011 101101001 111011001 1111010110 01011001 011010010 11101101 111110010 110111 1111010010 111011001 1111010010 11001001 110011010 01001001 1110010010 00110101 11111110 11111001 11100010 1101001 11111111 0110101 111110010 01111001 00111101 11011001 011110010 111001 1011011010 11101011 11110110 111011111 1011111010 111011001 011111010 01011001 011011111 110111101 01010111011 111011011 1110111011 011011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,715 |
Words | 322 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 226 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:41 min read
- 58 Views
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"City of Dreams" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6259/city-of-dreams>.
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