Analysis of The King Is Dead
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Aye, lay him in his grave, the old dead year!
His life is lived--fulfilled his destiny.
Have you for him no sad, regretful tear
To drop beside the cold, unfollowed bier?
Can you not pay the tribute of a sigh?
Was he not kind to you, this dead old year?
Did he not give enough of earthly store?
Enough of love, and laughter, and good cheer?
Have not the skies you scanned sometimes been clear?
How, then, of him who dies, could you ask more?
It is not well to hate him for the pain
He brought you, and the sorrows manifold.
To pardon him these hurts still I am fain;
For in the panting period of his reign,
He brought me new wounds, but he healed the old.
One little sigh for thee, my poor, dead friend--
One little sigh while my companions sing.
Thou art so soon forgotten in the end;
We cry e'en as thy footsteps downward tend:
'The king is dead! long live the king!'
Scheme | AXXXX ABAAB CDCCD EFEEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1110110111 1111011100 1111110101 11010111 1111010101 1111111111 1111011101 0111010011 1101110111 1111111111 1111111101 111001010 1101111111 10010100111 1111111101 1101111111 1101110101 1111010001 1111111101 01111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 857 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 165 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 62 Views
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