Analysis of Mad Maria
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Mad Maria in the Square
Sits upon a wicker chair.
When the keeper asks the price
Mad Maria counts her lice.
No pesito can she pay,
So he shrugs and goes away;
Hopes she'll pay him with her prayers,
Shabby keeper of the chairs.
Mad Maria counts her lice,
Cracks them once and cracks them twice,
Combs them from her sunny hair;
People stop to turn and stare.
Innocent in thought and deed
Mad Maria pays no heed,
And the Cross upon her breast
Proves her blessed of the blest.
So she sings her little song,
Happy as the day is long,
hunting in her camisole
Shy partakers of her dole;
thinking: Heaven please forgive -
Even lice have leave to live;
(But sweet Reader, do not blame,
For she kills them just the same.)
Mad Maria goes unchid,
Mildest maid in all Madrid;
While around in serried ranks
Rear the bold facades of Banks;
But when wrath of Heaven smites
Hosts of Mammon's parasites,
Mad Maria will not fall,
Being oh so very small.
Pariahs to God belong,
to be weak is to be strong;
Fools are richer than the wise,
And who see with shining eyes
Angels in the sordid street
Deem their happiness complete. . . .
Mad Maria counts her beads,
Cracks her lice and - Heaven heeds.
Scheme | aabBccdd Bbaaeeff gghhxxii ex jjbxhh ggkkllmm |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 1010001 1010101 1010101 1010101 11111 1110101 1111101 1010101 1010101 1110111 1110101 1011101 1000101 1010111 0010101 101101 1110101 1010111 10001 11101 1010101 1011111 1110111 1111101 101011 1010101 101011 1010111 1111101 11110 1010111 1011101 0101101 1111111 1110101 0111101 1000101 1110001 1010101 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,145 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 2, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 152 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 63 Views
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"Mad Maria" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32233/mad-maria>.
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