Analysis of Griffy the Cooper

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



The cooper should know about tubs.
But I learned about life as well,
And you who loiter around these graves
Think you know life.
You think your eye sweeps about a wide horizon, perhaps,
In truth you are only looking around the interior of your tub.
You cannot lift yourself to its rim
And see the outer world of things,
And at the same time see yourself.
You are submerged in the tub of yourself —
Taboos and rules and appearances,
Are the staves of your tub.
Break them and dispel the witchcraft
Of thinking your tub is life!
And that you know life!


Scheme ABCDEFGHIIJFKDD
Poetic Form
Metre 01011011 11101111 011100111 1111 11111010101001 011110100100100111 110101111 01010111 01011101 1101001101 010100100 101111 1100101 1101111 01111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 560
Words 106
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 434
Words per stanza (avg) 104
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
109

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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