Analysis of One Life
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
OH, I am hurt to death, my Love;
The shafts of Fate have pierced my striving heart,
And I am sick and weary of
The endless pain and smart.
My soul is weary of the strife,
And chafes at life, and chafes at life.
Time mocks me with fair promises;
A blooming future grows a barren past,
Like rain my fair full-blossomed trees
Unburden in the blast.
The harvest fails on grain and tree,
Nor comes to me, nor comes to me.
The stream that bears my hopes abreast
Turns ever from my way its pregnant tide.
My laden boat, torn from its rest,
Drifts to the other side.
So all my hopes are set astray,
And drift away, and drift away.
The lark sings to me at the morn,
And near me wings her skyward-soaring flight;
But pleasure dies as soon as born,
The owl takes up the night,
And night seems long and doubly dark;
I miss the lark, I miss the lark.
Let others labor as they may,
I'll sing and sigh alone, and write my line.
Their fate is theirs, or grave or gay,
And mine shall still be mine.
I know the world holds joy and glee,
But not for me, — 't is not for me.
Scheme | ABABCCDEFEGGHIHIJJKLKLMMJNJNGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11111111 0111111101 01110101 010101 11110101 01110111 11111100 0101010101 11111101 010001 01011101 11111111 01111101 1101111101 11011111 110101 11111101 01010101 01111101 0111010101 11011111 011101 01110101 11011101 11010111 1101010111 11111111 011111 11011101 111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,035 |
Words | 214 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 801 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 212 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 88 Views
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"One Life" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28823/one-life>.
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