Analysis of The Leaning Tower
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Having an aged hate of height
I forced myself to climb the Tower,
Yet paused at every second flight
Because my heart is scant of power;
Then when I gained the sloping summit
Earthward I stared, straight as a plummet.
When like a phantom by my side
I saw a man cadaverous;
At first I fancied him a guide,
For dimly he addressed me thus:
"Sir, where you stand, Oh long ago!
There also stood Galilleo.
"Proud Master of a mighty mind,
he worshipped truth and knew not fear;
Aye, though in age his eyes were blind,
Till death his brain was crystal clear;
And here he communed with the stars,
Where now you park your motor cars.
"This Pisa was a pleasant place,
Beloved by poets in their prime;
Yonder our Shelly used to pace,
And Byron ottavas would rhyme.
Till Shelley, from this fair environ,
Scrammed to escape egregious Byron.
"And you who with the horde have come,
I hate your guts, I say with candour;
Your wife wears slacks, and you chew gum,
So I, the ghost of Savage Landor,
Beg you, step closer to the edge,
That I may push you o'er the ledge."
But back I shrank, sped down the stair,
And sought the Baptistry where God is;
For I had no desire, I swear,
To prove the law of falling bodies. . . .
You're right - when one's nigh eighty he's a
Damphool to climb the Tower of Pisa.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEXX FGFGEE EHEHII JBJBKK LELEXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011111 11111010 111100101 011111110 111101010 11111010 11010111 11011 11110101 11010111 11111101 11011 11010101 11010111 11011101 11111101 0111101 11111101 11010101 01110011 101010111 010111 1101111 110101010 01110111 11111111 11110111 110111010 11110101 111111001 11111101 0101111 111101011 110111010 111111010 111010110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,255 |
Words | 246 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 164 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 44 Views
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