Nothing To Be Said
Philip Larkin 1922 (Coventry) – 1985 (Hull)
For nations vague as weed,
For nomads among stones,
Small-statured cross-faced tribes
And cobble-close families
In mill-towns on dark mornings
Life is slow dying.
So are their separate ways
Of building, benediction,
Measuring love and money
Ways of slow dying.
The day spent hunting pig
Or holding a garden-party,
Hours giving evidence
Or birth, advance
On death equally slowly.
And saying so to some
Means nothing; others it leaves
Nothing to be said.
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on July 29, 2020
Modified on April 17, 2023
- 21 sec read
- 248 Views
Quick analysis:
| Scheme | XXXXXA XXBAXB XXBXXX |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 435 |
| Words | 73 |
| Stanzas | 3 |
| Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
3 fans
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"Nothing To Be Said" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/54541/nothing-to-be-said>.
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