Analysis of Seth Compton
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
When I died, the circulating library
Which I built up for Spoon River,
And managed for the good of inquiring minds,
Was sold at auction on the public square,
As if to destroy the last vestige
Of my memory and influence.
For those of you who could not see the virtue
Of knowing Volney's "Ruins" as well as Butler's "Analogy"
And "Faust" as well as "Evangeline,"
Were really the power in the village,
And often you asked me,
"What is the use of knowing the evil in the world?"
I am out of your way now, Spoon River,
Choose your own good and call it good.
For I could never make you see
That no one knows what is good
Who knows not what is evil;
And no one knows what is true
Who knows not what is false.
Scheme | ABCDEFGAHIAJBKAKLGM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111010010 11111110 010101101001 1111010101 111010110 111000100 11111111010 110110111100100 01111010 0100100010 010111 1101110010001 1111111110 11110111 11110111 1111111 1111110 0111111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 691 |
Words | 143 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 19 |
Lines Amount | 19 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 537 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 139 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 40 Views
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"Seth Compton" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8716/seth-compton>.
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