Analysis of The Whip
Edwin Arlington Robinson 1869 – 1935
The doubt you fought so long
The cynic net you cast,
The tyranny, the wrong,
The ruin, they are past;
And here you are at last,
Your blood no longer vexed.
The coffin has you fast,
The clod will have you next.
But fear you not the clod,
Nor ever doubt the grave:
The roses and the sod
Will not forswear the wave.
The gift the river gave
Is now but theirs to cover:
The mistress and the slave
Are gone now, and the lover.
You left the two to find
Their own way to the brink
Then—shall I call you blind?—
You chose to plunge and sink.
God knows the gall we drink
Is not the mead we cry for,
Nor was it, I should think—
For you—a thing to die for.
Could we have done the same,
Had we been in your place?—
This funeral of your name
Throws no light on the case.
Could we have made the chase,
And felt then as you felt?—
But what’s this on your face,
Blue, curious, like a welt?
There were some ropes of sand
Recorded long ago,
But none, I understand,
Of water. Is it so?
And she—she struck the blow,
You but a neck behind …
You saw the river flow—
Still, shall I call you blind?
Scheme | ABABBCBC BDXDDEDE FGFGGHGH IJIJJKJK LMLMMFMF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 011111 010111 010001 010111 011111 111101 010111 011111 111101 110101 010001 110101 010101 1111110 010001 1110010 110111 111101 111111 111101 110111 1101111 111111 1101111 111101 111011 1100111 111101 111101 011111 101111 1100101 101111 010101 11101 110111 011101 110101 110101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,094 |
Words | 224 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 162 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 111 Views
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"The Whip" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10076/the-whip>.
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