Analysis of Tragic Fragment
Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)
All devil as I am-a damned wretch,
A hardened, stubborn, unrepenting villain,
Still my heart melts at human wretchedness;
And with sincere but unavailing sighs
I view the helpless children of distress:
With tears indignant I behold the oppressor
Rejoicing in the honest man's destruction,
Whose unsubmitting heart was all his crime. -
Ev'n you, ye hapless crew! I pity you;
Ye, whom the seeming good think sin to pity;
Ye poor, despised, abandoned vagabonds,
Whom Vice, as usual, has turn'd o'er to ruin.
Oh! but for friends and interposing Heaven,
I had been driven forth like you forlorn,
The most detested, worthless wretch among you!
O injured God! Thy goodness has endow'd me
With talents passing most of my compeers,
Which I in just proportion have abused-
As far surpassing other common villains
As Thou in natural parts has given me more.
Scheme | ABCCCDBEFGCBBHFGCICJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 110111011 01010110 11111101 010110101 1101010101 110101010010 01000101010 1111111 11111011101 11010111110 1101010100 1111001110110 11110110 1111011101 01010101011 11011101011 110101111 1101010101 11010101010 110100111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 835 |
Words | 145 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 669 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 143 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 86 Views
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"Tragic Fragment" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30601/tragic-fragment>.
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