Analysis of Shot? So Quick, So Clean an Ending?
Alfred Edward Housman 1859 – 1936
Shot? so quick, so clean an ending?
Oh that was right, lad, that was brave:
Yours was not an ill for mending,
'Twas best to take it to the grave.
Oh you had forethought, you could reason,
And saw your road and where it led,
And early wise and brave in season
Put the pistol to your head.
Oh soon, and better so than later
After long disgrace and scorn,
You shot dead the household traitor,
The soul that should not have been born.
Right you guessed the rising morrow
And scorned to tread the mire you must:
Dust's your wages, son of sorrow,
But men may come to worse than dust.
Souls undone, undoing others,--
Long time since the tale began.
You would not live to wrong your brothers:
Oh lad, you died as fits a man.
Now to your grave shall friend and stranger
With ruth and some with envy come:
Undishonoured, clear of danger,
Clean of guilt, pass hence and home.
Turn safe to rest, no dreams, no waking;
And here, man, here's the wreath I've made:
'Tis not a gift that's worth the taking,
But wear it and it will not fade.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ EXEX AKAK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 11111110 11111111 11111110 11111101 11111110 01110111 010101010 1010111 110101110 1010101 1110110 01111111 11101010 01110111 11101110 11111111 10101010 1110101 111111110 11111101 111111010 11011101 11110 1111101 111111110 01110111 110111010 11101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,032 |
Words | 199 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 112 Views
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"Shot? So Quick, So Clean an Ending?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/909/shot%3F-so-quick%2C-so-clean-an-ending%3F>.
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