Analysis of Enoch Dunlap

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



How many times, during the twenty years
I was your leader, friends of Spoon River,
Did you neglect the convention and caucus,
And leave the burden on my hands
Of guarding and saving the people's cause? --
Sometimes because you were ill;
Or your grandmother was ill;
Or you drank too much and fell asleep;
Or else you said: "He is our leader,
All will be well; he fights for us;
We have nothing to do but follow."
But oh, how you cursed me when I fell,
And cursed me, saying I had betrayed you,
In leaving the caucus room for a moment,
When the people's enemies, there assembled,
Waited and watched for a chance to destroy
The Sacred Rights of the People.
You common rabble! I left the caucus
To go to the urinal.


Scheme ABCDEFFGBCHIJKLMNCF
Poetic Form
Metre 1101100101 1111011110 11010010010 01010111 1100100101 0101101 111011 111110101 1111111010 11111111 111011110 111111111 0111011011 01001011010 10101001010 1001101101 01011010 1101011010 11101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 702
Words 138
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 19
Lines Amount 19
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 549
Words per stanza (avg) 135
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

41 sec read
108

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

All Edgar Lee Masters poems | Edgar Lee Masters Books

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