Analysis of The Temple - What Makes It Of Worth
Edgar Albert Guest 1881 (Birmingham) – 1959 (Detroit, Michigan)
You may delve down to rock for your foundation piers,
You may go with your steel to the sky
You may purchase the best of the thought of the years,
And the finest of workmanship buy.
You may line with the rarest of marble each hall,
And with gold you may tint it; but then
It is only a building if it, after all,
Isn't filled with the spirit of men.
You may put up a structure of brick and of stone,
Such as never was put up before;
Place there the costliest woods that are grown,
And carve every pillar and door.
You may fill it with splendors of quarry and mine,
With the glories of brush and of pen —
But it's only a building, though ever so fine,
If it hasn't the spirit of men.
You may build such structure that lightning can't harm,
Or one that an earthquake can't raze;
You may build it of granite, and boast that its charm
Shall last to the end of all days.
But you might as well never have builded at all,
Never cleared off the bog and the fen,
If, after it's finished, its sheltering wall
Doesn't stand for the spirit of men.
For it isn't the marble, nor is it the stone
Nor is it the columns of steel,
By which is the worth of an edifice known;
But it's something that's living and real.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGDGD HIHICDCD EJEJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111110101 111111101 111001101101 00101101 111101011011 011111111 111001011101 101101011 111101011011 111011101 1101001111 011001001 11111111001 101011011 111001011011 111001011 11111011011 1111111 111111001111 11101111 11111101111 101101001 11011011001 101101011 111001011101 11101011 11101111001 111011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,180 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 230 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 13, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 115 Views
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"The Temple - What Makes It Of Worth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8418/the-temple---what-makes-it-of-worth>.
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