Analysis of The Coward's Downfall
Stopping just short of judgment,
his mind took a leap
Whose soul rose as substance,
now ready to speak
Words before never uttered,
or spoken in vain
This acknowledgement followed,
crying out in refrain…
“The joy in determination,
the torment by choice
To share in celebration,
we alone can’t rejoice
The critic inside us,
the judger of sins
Is best left in silence,
till it targets within”
As time will remind us,
and these words will recall
All biting reprisal,
—the coward’s downfall
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
| Scheme | XX AX XB XB CD CD EX AX EF XF X |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 1011110 11101 111110 11011 1011010 11001 1010010 101001 0100010 0111 110010 101101 010011 0111 111010 111001 111011 01111 110010 0101 0100101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 514 |
| Words | 87 |
| Sentences | 1 |
| Stanzas | 11 |
| Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 |
| Lines Amount | 21 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
| Words per line (avg) | 4 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 38 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 8 |
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"The Coward's Downfall" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 5 Feb. 2025. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/44903/the-coward%27s-downfall>.
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