Analysis of Laughter
I Laugh at Life: its antics make for me a giddy games,
Where only foolish fellows take themselves with solemn aim.
I laugh at pomp and vanity, at riches, rank and pride;
At social inanity, at swager, swank and side.
At poets, pastry-cooks and kings, at folk sublime and small,
Who fuss about a thousand things that matter not at all;
At those who dream of name and fame, at those who scheme for pelf. . . .
But best of all the laughing game - is laughing at myself.
Some poet chap had labelled man the noblest work of God:
I see myself a charlatan, a humbug and a fraud.
Yea, 'spite of show and shallow wit, an sentimental drool,
I know myself a hypocrite, a coward and a fool.
And though I kick myself with glee profoundly on the pants,
I'm little worse, it seems to me, than other human ants.
For if you probe your private mind, impervious to shame,
Oh, Gentle Reader, you may find you're much about the same.
Then let us mock with ancient mirth this comic, cosmic plan;
The stars are laughing at the earth; God's greatest joke is man.
For laughter is a buckler bright, and scorn a shining spear;
So let us laugh with all our might at folly, fraud and fear.
Yet on our sorry selves be spent our most sardonic glee.
Oh don't pay life a compliment to take is seriously.
For he who can himself despise, be surgeon to the bone,
May win to worth in others' eyes, to wisdom in his own.
Scheme | XABBCCDD XXEEFFAA GGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101110101 11010101011101 11110100110101 1101110101 11010101110101 11010101110111 11111101111111 1111010111011 11011101010111 111010001001 1111010110101 111010010001 0111111010101 11011111110101 11111101010011 11010111110101 11111101110101 01110101110111 110101001010101 111111101110101 1110101111010101 111101001111000 11110101110101 11110101110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,366 |
Words | 264 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 353 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 88 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 288 Views
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"Laughter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32209/laughter>.
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