Analysis of The Coldest Day

Robert Joseph Mattingly 1957 (Brookline, Massachusetts)



I never felt a colder day,
When I sat next to my dad's grave.
No matter what I couldn't stay
Warm but I just had to be brave.

I had to sit next to my mom
And Lorraine on the other side,
While all of the others would come
And sit behind us, as they cried.

Every inch of my body shook
Knowing that everyone was sad,
Because deep down inside it took
On God's earth everything I had.

My dad's twenty-one gun salute
With his flag given to my mom.
I heard every single gun shoot.
My ears were so cold they were numb.


Scheme ABAB CDED FGFG HCHE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 11010101 11111111 11011101 11111111 11111111 00110101 11101011 01011111 100111101 1011011 01110111 1111011 11101101 11110111 111001011 11011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 513
Words 117
Sentences 7
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 98
Words per stanza (avg) 26

About this poem

At my father's funeral

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Written on March 03, 2024

Submitted by robertm.06281 on March 03, 2024

36 sec read
13

Robert Joseph Mattingly

A Poet for forty years since 1983, a Substitute Teacher, B.S.Ed.. I built a building of poems beyond imagination, 64 inches tall. more…

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