Analysis of Growing Pains
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Behold the undergraduate
A most amusing fellow
In all his jesting up-to-date
His sense of humor is so great,
His modern wit so mellow,
That no quip serves him lest it be
Rich in originality.
Assured of overwhelming odds,
Seizing the freshmen's persons,
Indelibly he daubs these clods,
To waken mirth in men and gods.
(Saving a few McPhersons
And other members of their race
Who have of humor, not a trace.)
The softier sort of joke that serves
Dull age - the quaint or quizzical
Gains his contempt, as it deserves;
Mere wordy wit gets on his nerves;
His jokes are ever physical,
And richer qualities attain
The more they hold of cosmic pain.
To torture victims till they squeal
Is mirthfully effectual;
Humor lacks pith unless these feel
Fierce torments: wit has no appeal
That's solely intellectual.
The quirk, the paradox outworn,
The epigram but earn his scorn.
No milder jest may give him joy
Strange, adolescent creature,
Suspended 'twixt the man and boy
No rag's worth while lest it employ
Some quaintly painful feature;
But jokes, that moved the stone-age man
To shrieks of mirth, he'll gladly plan.
Behold the undergraduate
And pity him a little,
Remembering 'twas once our fate
To linger in that loutish state
That holds of grace no tittle,
But comes alike to boy and pup
The penalty of growing up.
Scheme | Abccbdd exeeeff ghgghii jbjjhix klkklmm Ahcchnn |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0100100 0101010 0111111 11110111 1101110 11111111 1000100 0110101 100110 01001111 11010101 10011 01010111 11110101 0111111 11011100 11011101 11011111 11110100 01010001 01111101 11010111 111 10110111 1111101 11000100 010101 0101111 11011111 101010 01010101 11111101 1101010 11110111 11111101 0100100 0101010 010011101 1100111 1111110 11011101 01001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,280 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 89 Views
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"Growing Pains" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6354/growing-pains>.
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