Analysis of Picture Dealer
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
There were twin artists A. and B.
Who painted pictures two,
And hung them in my galley
For everyone to view;
The one exhibited by A.
The name "A Sphere" did bear,
While strangely brother B's display
Was catalogued: "A Square".
Now although A. (and this is queer)
Could squeeze a pretty tube,
The picture that he called a Sphere
Was blocky as a cube;
While B. (though no hint he disclosed
To pull the public leg)
The Square he placidly exposed
Was oval as an egg.
Thought I: To sell these pictures two
I never will be able;
There's only one thing I can do,
That's change around the label.
The rotund one I called a Sphere,
The cornered one a Square . . .
And yet, I thought: It's very queer,
Unbought they linger there.
Then strange as it may well appear,
Derision did I bare,
And blandly dubbed the Square a Sphere
And tabbed the Sphere a Square.
Behold the answer I had found,
For to my glad dismay
The curious came crowding round:
A sold the daubs next day.
Well, maybe A. and B. were right,
Not mugs like you and me,
With something missing in our sight
That only artists see.
So what it is and what it ain't
I'll never more discuss . . .
These guys believe in what they paint,
Or . . . are they spoofing us?
Scheme | ABABXCDC EFEFGHGH BIBIECEC ECECJDJD KAKALMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 10110001 110101 0110110 11011 01010010 010111 11010101 11001 1100111 110101 01011101 11101 11111101 110101 01110001 110111 11111101 1101110 11011111 1101010 00111101 010101 01111101 11101 11111101 010111 01010101 010101 01010111 111101 01001101 010111 11000101 111101 110100101 110101 11110111 110101 11010111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,179 |
Words | 229 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 81 Views
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"Picture Dealer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32359/picture-dealer>.
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