Analysis of The Wonder of a Child



The Wonder of a Child!

He looks upon his baby hands
Enchanted by the wonder
Chubby fingers bend and fan
Move forward, backward, under

Eyes fixed upon his finger-dance
Track gentle rhythmic gestures
Accepting that they move by chance
Too young yet for conjecture

Soon enough he’ll grow to know
He makes his fingers dance
He makes them catch and throw
The seeds to sow, he plants

It is saddening and tragic
We stay children a quick while
For nothing’s born of magic—
Like the wonder of a child!


Scheme A XBXB CXCB DCDX EXEA
Poetic Form
Metre 010101 11011101 0101010 1010101 1101010 11011101 1101010 01011111 1111010 1011111 111101 111101 011111 11100010 1110011 1101110 1010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 514
Words 105
Sentences 3
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 79
Words per stanza (avg) 18

About this poem

Watching my months-old grandson staring at the dancing movements of his hands, with a look of wonder in his eyes, inspired this poem.

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Written on January 23, 2024

Submitted by susan.brumel on March 29, 2024

31 sec read
111

Susan Mayer Brumel

I am a retired hospice social worker, who began writing poems about 2 years ago. I am married, a mom of two sons, a Bernese Mountain Dog, and grandma of two grandchildren who are the loves of my life. A lover of all animals and most people, I enjoy spending time in nature, long walks, and reading Pablo Neruda, Blake, William Carlos Williams, James Joyce, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, Leonard Cohen, and more. Baudelaire tells us to ‘be drunk’ on something every day; I am drunk on poetry and intend never to be sober! more…

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