Analysis of Granny
Here, in her elbow chair, she sits
A soul alert, alive,
A poor old body shrunk and bent -
The queen-bee of the hive.
But hives of bees and hives of men
Obey their several laws;
No fiercely-loving filial throng
This mother-head adores.
This bringer of world-wealth, whereof
None may compute the worth,
Is possibly of no account
To anyone on earth.
Her cap and spectacles, that mean
Dim eyes and scanty hairs,
The humble symbols of her state -
The only crown she wears.
Lacking a kingdom and a court,
A relic of the past,
Almost a cumberer of the ground -
That is our queen at last.
But still not wholly without place,
Nor quite bereft of power;
A useful stopgap - a resource
In many a troubled hour.
She darns the stockings, keeps the house,
The nurseless infant tends,
While the young matrons and the men
Pursue their various ends -
Too keen-set on their great affairs,
Or little plays and pranks,
The things and people of their world,
To give her thought or thanks -
The children on whom all her thought
And time and love were spent
Through half a century of years!
Yet is she well content.
The schooling of those fiery years,
It has not been for nought;
A large philosophy of life
Has self-less service taught.
The outlook from the heights attained
By climbings sore and slow
Discovers worlds of wisdom, hid
From clearest eyes below.
So calmly, in her elbow chair,
Forgotten and alone,
She knits and dreams, and sometimes sighs
But never makes a moan.
Still dwelling with her brood unseen -
Ghosts of a bygone day -
The precious daughter in her grave,
The dear son gone astray -
And others, to whom once she stood
As only light and law,
The near and living, and yet lost,
That need her love no more.
Watching their joyous setting forth
To mingle with their kind,
With scarce a pang, with ne'er a grudge,
At being left behind.
'Let them be young, as I was young,
And happy while they may' . . . .
A dog that waits the night in peace
Since it has had its day.
Scheme | XABA CXXX ADXD EFXF XGXG XHXH XICI FJXJ KBLB LBXK XMXM XNXN EOXO XXXX XPXP XOXO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 1001111 010101 01110101 011101 11110111 011101 110101001 110101 111111 110101 11001101 11011 01010011 110101 01010101 010111 10010001 010101 101101 1110111 11110011 1101110 0101010 01001010 11010101 01101 10110001 0111001 11111101 110101 01010111 110111 01011101 010101 11010011 111110 010111001 111111 01010011 111101 0110101 11101 01011101 110101 1100011 010001 11010011 110101 11010101 11011 01010001 011101 01011111 110101 01010011 110111 10110101 110111 11011101 110101 11111111 010111 01110101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,904 |
Words | 366 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 95 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 126 Views
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"Granny" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/64/granny>.
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