Analysis of Let Me Die a Youngman's Death
Roger McGough 1937 (Litherland)
Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death
When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party
Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides
Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one
Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death
Scheme | Abaxa cdbdxx cddxbx cbxdbxb Ababa |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111011 10101 0111 101011 101111 11 001011 1111111 101111 1111 11110 111 1101 01000101 11010 11110 011011001 111 011010 1110 101011010 010101 111011010 0101100111 111011 1011110 1010101 101011101 1011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 733 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 6, 6, 7, 5 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 120 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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"Let Me Die a Youngman's Death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/53911/let-me-die-a-youngman%27s-death>.
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