Analysis of Room 5: The Concert Singer
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I'm one of these haphazard chaps
Who sit in cafes drinking;
A most improper taste, perhaps,
Yet pleasant, to my thinking.
For, oh, I hate discord and strife;
I'm sadly, weakly human;
And I do think the best of life
Is wine and song and woman.
Now, there's that youngster on my right
Who thinks himself a poet,
And so he toils from morn to night
And vainly hopes to show it;
And there's that dauber on my left,
Within his chamber shrinking --
He looks like one of hope bereft;
He lives on air, I'm thinking.
But me, I love the things that are,
My heart is always merry;
I laugh and tune my old guitar:
Sing ho! and hey-down-derry.
Oh, let them toil their lives away
To gild a tawdry era,
But I'll be gay while yet I may:
Sing tira-lira-lira.
I'm sure you know that picture well,
A monk, all else unheeding,
Within a bare and gloomy cell
A musty volume reading;
While through the window you can see
In sunny glade entrancing,
With cap and bells beneath a tree
A jester dancing, dancing.
Which is the fool and which the sage?
I cannot quite discover;
But you may look in learning's page
And I'll be laughter's lover.
For this our life is none too long,
And hearts were made for gladness;
Let virtue lie in joy and song,
The only sin be sadness.
So let me troll a jolly air,
Come what come will to-morrow;
I'll be no cabotin of care,
No souteneur of sorrow.
Let those who will indulge in strife,
To my most merry thinking,
The true philosophy of life
Is laughing, loving, drinking.
And there's that weird and ghastly hag
Who walks head bent, with lips a-mutter;
With twitching hands and feet that drag,
And tattered skirts that sweep the gutter.
An outworn harlot, lost to hope,
With staring eyes and hair that's hoary
I hear her gibber, dazed with dope:
I often wonder what's her story.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EXEXFBFB GHGHIJIJ KBKBHBHB LMLMNANX OPOPCBCB QMQMRHRH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 110110 01010101 1101110 11111001 1101010 01110111 1101010 11110111 1101010 01111111 0101111 01110111 0111010 11111101 1111110 11110111 111110 11011101 1101110 11111101 1101010 11111111 111010 11111101 01111 01010101 0101010 11010111 01011 11010101 0101010 11010101 1101010 1111011 011110 111011111 010111 11010101 0101110 11110101 1111110 111111 11110 11110101 1111010 01010011 1101010 01110101 111111010 11010111 010111010 1110111 110101110 1101111 110101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,768 |
Words | 336 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 195 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 102 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Room 5: The Concert Singer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32409/room-5%3A-the-concert-singer>.
Discuss this Robert William Service poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In