Analysis of The Man Who Knew
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
The Dreamer visioned Life as it might be,
And from his dream forthright a picture grew,
A painting all the people thronged to see,
And joyed therein -- till came the Man Who Knew,
Saying: "'Tis bad! Why do ye gape, ye fools!
He painteth not according to the schools."
The Dreamer probed Life's mystery of woe,
And in a book he sought to give the clue;
The people read, and saw that it was so,
And read again -- then came the Man Who Knew,
Saying: "Ye witless ones! this book is vile:
It hath not got the rudiments of style."
Love smote the Dreamer's lips, and silver clear
He sang a song so sweet, so tender true,
That all the market-place was thrilled to hear,
And listened rapt -- till came the Man Who Knew,
Saying: "His technique's wrong; he singeth ill.
Waste not your time." The singer's voice was still.
And then the people roused as if from sleep,
Crying: "What care we if it be not Art!
Hath he not charmed us, made us laugh and weep?
Come, let us crown him where he sits apart."
Then, with his picture spurned, his book unread,
His song unsung, they found their Dreamer -- dead.
Scheme | ABABCC DBDBEE XBXBFF GHGHII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010111111 0111110101 0101010111 0101110111 1011111111 111010101 0101110011 0001111101 0101011111 0101110111 1011011111 1111010011 110110101 1101111101 1101011111 0101110111 10111111 1111010111 0101011111 1011111111 1111111101 1111111101 1111011101 1101111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,073 |
Words | 213 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 205 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 94 Views
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