Analysis of To A Successful Man
Alfred Noyes 1880 (Wolverhampton) – 1958 (Isle of Wight)
(WHAT THE GHOSTS SAID.)
And after all the labour and the pains,
After the heaping up of gold on gold,
After success that locked your feet in chains,
And left you with a heart so tired and old,
Strange-is it not?-to find your chief desire
Is what you might have had for nothing then-
The face of love beside a cottage fire
And friendly laughter with your fellow-men?
You were so rich when fools esteemed you poor.
You ruled a field that kings could never buy:
The whisper of the sea was at your door,
And all those quiet stars were in your sky,
The nook of ferns below the breathless wood
Where one poor book could unlock Paradise. . . .
What will you give us now for that lost good?
Better forget. You cannot pay the price.
You left them for the fame in which you trust.
But youth, and hope-did you forsake them too?
Courage! When dust at length returns to dust,
In your last dreams they may come back to you.
Scheme | XABAB CDCD XEXE FGFG HIHI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011 010101001 1001011111 1001111101 01110111001 11111111010 1111111101 01110101010 0101011101 1011110111 1101111101 0101011111 0111010011 0111010101 111110110 1111111111 1001110101 1111010111 1101110111 1011110111 0111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 897 |
Words | 176 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 141 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 36 Views
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