Analysis of The Delights of Mathematics
Robert Fuller Murray 1863 – 1894
It seems a hundred years or more
Since I, with note-book, ink and pen,
In cap and gown, first trod the floor
Which I have often trod since then;
Yet well do I remember when
With fifty other fond fanatics,
I sought delights beyond my ken,
The deep delights of Mathematics.
I knew that two and two made four,
I felt that five times two were ten,
But, as for all profounder lore,
The robin redbreast or the wren,
The sparrow, whether cock or hen,
Knew quite as much about Quadratics,
Was less confused by x and n,
The deep delights of Mathematics.
The Asses' Bridge I passed not o'er,
I floundered in the noisome fen
Which lies behind it and before;
I wandered in the gloomy glen
Where Surds and Factors have their den.
But when I saw the pit of Statics,
I said Good-bye, Farewell, Amen!
The deep delights of Mathematics.
O Bejants! blessed, beardless men,
Who strive with Euclid in your attics,
For worlds I would not taste again
The deep delights of Mathematics.
Scheme | ababbcbC ababbcbC xbabbcbC bcbC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 11111101 01011101 11110111 11110101 110101010 11010111 01011010 11110111 11111101 111111 0101101 01010111 1111011 11011101 01011010 010111110 1100011 11011001 11000101 11010111 11110111 1111101 01011010 11111 111100110 11111101 01011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 942 |
Words | 179 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 188 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 119 Views
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