Why Not?

Harriet Monroe 1860 (Chicago) – 1936 (Arequipa)



Poet, sing me a song to-day !
But the world grows old and my hair is gray.

Ah no! there are birds on the lilac bushes
And a snow-drop out of the wet earth pushes.
Two chattering robins are planning a marriage,
And see! there's a baby all pink in its carriage!
And the sun is wiping the clouds from his brow,
And who can look back when it's always now?
Oh, what is the use of a poet, say,
If he will not sing me a song to-day?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
345

Quick analysis:

Scheme AA BBCCDDAA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 433
Words 90
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 2, 8

Harriet Monroe

Harriet Monroe was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet and patron of the arts. more…

All Harriet Monroe poems | Harriet Monroe Books

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    Quiz

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    What is the term for the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
    A Line break
    B Dithyramb
    C Enjambment
    D A turn