Analysis of The Jokes We Tell
John Jessup Kennan 1953 (Pomona)
I'd say that Cupid's blessed arrow
Is just a poison dart,
And love is just a vampire
Claiming a stake within my heart
And that voodoo doll with pins
Stuck in its eyes don't look like me
But it's getting really dark in here
And difficult to see
The cruelest of the jokes we know
Is the one that tells us love is blind
I don't wonder it is so
I've never known another kind
Down at ophthalmology
They'll stick needles into me
And dress me in a backless gown
For Lasik surgery
I'd love to stay for breakfast
But you need your beauty sleep
You've already had your fill
And my appointment will not keep
The cruelest of the jokes we know
Is the one that tells us love is blind
I don't wonder it is so
I've never known another kind
You drove the point home, made it stick
No phantom flaming fatal dart
No hungry fangs of a mere vampire
Staking a claim within my heart
The visions here are friendly
The deadly poison arrows fall
Messiah neatly framed and hung
The portrait nailed to your wall
The cruelest of the jokes we know
Is the one that tells us love is blind
I don't wonder it is so
I've never known another kind
© John Kennan 12-8-16
| Scheme | abcbxdxd AEAE ddxdxfxf AEAE xbcbdgxg AEAE x |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 1111110 110101 0111010 10010111 011111 10111111 111010101 010011 01010111 101111111 1110111 11010101 110100 1110011 01100101 11100 1111110 1111101 1010111 01010111 01010111 101111111 1110111 11010101 11011111 11010101 110110110 10010111 0101110 01010101 01010101 0101111 01010111 101111111 1110111 11010101 110 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 1,123 |
| Words | 221 |
| Sentences | 1 |
| Stanzas | 7 |
| Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 1 |
| Lines Amount | 37 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 128 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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"The Jokes We Tell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/100771/the-jokes-we-tell>.
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