Analysis of Distrust Appearances
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
He came into the bird-shop where I stood
A hulking giant, monumental, grim,
A paragon of muscular manhood.
'What is sold here,' I thought, 'that could serve him?'
His heavy brow, his grat, prognathic jaw
Spoke brooding truculence; he wore no vest;
And, where his shirt flared one side, I saw
The matted hair upon his mighty chest.
I thought of Gog, Carnera, Hercules,
As he stood by me, breating like a gale.
'What can he want,' I wondered, ''mid all these.
Pet dogs, birds, goldfish offered here for sale?
Bulldogs at least.' The parrots watched him, tense;
The yelping pups grew still to see him pass;
All sensed his presence, dominant, immense.
Even the goldfish goggled thro' their glass.
He scared me. Hastily I made my choice
And paid my cash. Yet loitered by the door,
Longing to hear the thinder of that voice
Rumble and break into a sudden roar;
Longing to know, amongst these playful folk
Pups, parrots, love-birds - what could be his need.
Sharks? Panthers? ... Then his piping treble spoke:
'Please, miss, three pennorth of canary seed.'
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme |
Metre | 1101011111 010100101 01011001 1111111111 11011111 11011111 011111111 011011101 1111110 111111101 1111110111 111110111 111010111 0101111111 1111010001 10011111 1111001111 011111101 101101111 1001010101 1011011101 1101111111 1101110101 111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,040 |
Words | 189 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 267 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 78 Views
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"Distrust Appearances" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6293/distrust-appearances>.
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