Analysis of A Scrawl
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
I want to sing something-- but this is all--
I try and I try, but the rhymes are dull
As though they were damp, and the echoes fall
Limp and unlovable.
Words will not say what I yearn to say--
They will not walk as I want them to,
But they stumble and fall in the path of the way
Of my telling my love for you.
Simply take what the scrawl is worth--
Knowing I love you as sun the sod
On the ripening side of the great round earth
That swings in the smile of God.
Scheme | AXAA BCBC DEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111101111 1101110111 1110100101 101 111111111 111111111 111001001101 11101111 10110111 101111101 10100110111 1100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 459 |
Words | 100 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 117 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 30 sec read
- 368 Views
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"A Scrawl" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20797/a-scrawl>.
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