Analysis of Candy Land



The swing that breaks the hanging bag
Sends candy bouncing all around:
The children rush, and pushing fuss,
And knock each other to the ground.
No thoughts of others—only self—
Where skewed desires all abound:
They rush and push and even kick …
For candy they will punch and pound.

The seeking of it hardly stops
When all the revelry and sound
Diminish by the quiet yard
Where some young kid is ‘candy crowned’.
What festers is a bitter taste,
A blight from loss, a wound profound,
‘Til vengeance from ambition breeds
A greed that makes the soul unsound.

But see how now some candy lies
Beside my foot, which none have found?
Note how my lack and little care
Shows peace that inly knows no bound.
Shun selfishness and lusty greed,
For many souls have in them drowned.
Go forth, therefore, and live as free—
A slave to no one’s ‘candy mound’.


Scheme XAXAXAXA XAXAXAXA XAXAXAXA
Poetic Form
Metre 01110101 11010101 01010101 01110101 11110101 11010101 11010101 11011101 01011101 11010001 01010101 11111101 1110101 01110101 11010101 01110101 11111101 01111111 11110101 1111111 11000101 11011011 1110111 01111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 864
Words 168
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 220
Words per stanza (avg) 51

About this poem

A diatribe against materialism and the brutal enterprise of ambition it breeds, this poem is a humble way of acknowledging that a freer and more peaceful way of life is possible.

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Submitted by Vixility on January 28, 2024

50 sec read
127

John W. May

John W. May has lived in Colorado all his life. He currently works in the field of ophthalmology and loves to mountain bike and read about history. John first became a lover of poetry in 2008 after having read a poem by John Milton. He has been reading and studying the works of various poets since. His favorite poets are Emily Dickinson, Fyodor Tyutchev and W. B. Yeats. more…

All John W. May poems | John W. May Books

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