Analysis of A Choice
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
THE flood of utter change is loosed. A space
Is ours yet, for its coming to prepare.
Shall we build dams with cautious, clumsy care,
Or stand with idle hands and frightened face,
And so be whirled all broken from our place,
And perish with the dams we builded there?
Or shall we dig a broad, deep channel, where
Most fields may feel the flood's benign embrace?
Thus turned 'twill be a calm majestic flood
Of plenty, peace, and fertilising power,
Whose banks fresh flowers of love and joy shall deck.
Oppose it: at the inevitable hour,
Tumultuous, black with ruin, red with blood,
'Twill come--and you shall have no chance but wreck!
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDEDCE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111011101 11011110101 1111110101 1111010101 01111101101 010101111 1111011101 1111010101 1111010101 11010110 11110110111 011100100010 1001110111 1101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 640 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 247 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 70 Views
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"A Choice" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8754/a-choice>.
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