Analysis of Fisherfolk



I like to look at fishermen
      And oftentimes I wish
One would be lucky now and then
      And catch a little fish.
I watch them statuesquely stand,
      And at the water look;
But if they pull their float to land
      It's just to bait a hook.

I ponder the psychology
      That roots them in their place;
And wonder at the calm I see
      In ever angler's face.
There is such patience in their eyes,
      Beside the river's brink;
And waiting for a bite or rise
      I do not think they think.

Or else they are just gentle men,
      Who love--they know not why,
Greeen grace of trees or water when
      It wimples to the sky . . .
Sweet simple souls! As vain I watch
      My heart to you is kind:
Most precious prize of all you catch,
      --Just Peace of Mind.


Scheme XABACDCD EFEFGHGH BIBIXJXJ
Poetic Form
Metre 11111100 01011 11110101 010101 11111 010101 11111111 111101 11000100 111011 01010111 01011 11110011 010101 01010111 111111 11111101 111111 11111101 11101 11011111 111111 11011111 1111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 766
Words 141
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 179
Words per stanza (avg) 47
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

43 sec read
72

Robert William Service

Robert William Service was a poet and writer sometimes referred to as the Bard of the Yukon He is best-known for his writings on the Canadian North including the poems The Shooting of Dan McGrew The Law of the Yukon and The Cremation of Sam McGee His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was Robert William Service was born 16 January 1874 in Preston England but also lived in Scotland before emigrating to Canada in 1894 Service went to the Yukon Territory in 1904 as a bank clerk and became famous for his poems about this region which are mostly in his first two books of poetry He wrote quite a bit of prose as well and worked as a reporter for some time but those writings are not nearly as well known as his poems He travelled around the world quite a bit and narrowly escaped from France at the beginning of the Second World War during which time he lived in Hollywood California He died 11 September 1958 in France Incidentally he played himself in a movie called The Spoilers starring John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich more…

All Robert William Service poems | Robert William Service Books

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