Analysis of Fletcher McGee

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



She took my strength by minutes,
She took my life by hours,
She drained me like a fevered moon
That saps the spinning world.
The days went by like shadows,
The minutes wheeled like stars.
She took pity from my heart,
And made it into smiles.
She was a hunk of sculptor's clay,
My secret thoughts were fingers:
They flew behind her pensive brow
And lined it deep with pain.
They set the lips, and sagged the cheeks,
And drooped the eyes with sorrow.
My soul had entered in the clay,
Fighting like seven devils.
It was not mine, it was not hers;
She held it, but its struggles
Modeled a face she hated,
And a face I feared to see.
I beat the windows, shook the bolts.
I hid me in a corner--
And then she died and haunted me,
And hunted me for life.


Scheme ABCDEFGHIBJKLMINBNOPQRPS
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110 1111110 11110101 110101 011111 010111 1110111 011011 1101111 1101010 11010101 011111 11010101 0101110 11110001 1011010 11111110 1111110 1001110 0011111 11010101 1110010 01110101 010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 754
Words 148
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 574
Words per stanza (avg) 146
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 13, 2023

44 sec read
95

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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