Analysis of Friends By A Thread

William A. Tatum 1953 (Washington, D. C.)



Friends By A Thread

Up late at my desk
buried deep in a book, 
when a caller dropped in
for perhaps a close look, 

hanging mid-air
on the end of a thread 
was a curious spider
in front of my head. 

I was keenly amused
as he stayed in suspension, 
this eight-legged creature
who got my attention. 

The floating arachnid
who saw me below 
felt the need to come down
just to say his "Hello". 

This meeting became
an ongoing affair 
with a nightly descending
from high in the air,

but our ritual came
to an unforeseen end
by the sudden departure
of my little friend.

Now I miss staying up
for my merry all-nighter 
to be entertained
by that dangling spider, 

as one night I discovered
while searching up high, 
my friend went away
without saying "Goodbye".


Scheme A XBXB CADA XEDE XFXF GCXC GHDH XDXD XIXI
Poetic Form
Metre 1101 11111 101001 101010 101011 1011 101101 1010010 01111 111001 1110010 111010 111010 010010 11101 101111 111101 11001 11001 1010010 11001 1101001 11011 1010010 11101 111101 1110110 1101 1110010 1111010 11011 11101 01101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 789
Words 166
Sentences 6
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 33
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 65
Words per stanza (avg) 15

About this poem

This poem is about a resident spider I discovered dangling over my head while at my desk one night in my home. It became a nightly affair until the spider vanished.

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Written on November 03, 2023

Submitted by biltn1953 on November 03, 2023

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