Analysis of Outdated Ideas
Joe Strickland 1986 (Hobbysville, SC)
Typically what happens is,
The sea retreats, its shoreline
Dragging back grains of memory
From an old set of logics,
Forgotten footprints on the sand.
Somebody drags an idea from the past,
A treasured shell, once polished
By the waves of certainty.
They grasp it tightly, hoping its echoes
Will unlock the new one, seamlessly.
That worked before, they believe,
Pulling fragments and whispers
From the forgotten tides.
But this ocean resists, refusing
To mold itself to outdated contours.
In their hands, a relic,
Preserved in solemnity,
Now a weight to bear.
They try to apply it, warmly,
Only to find the surge indifferent.
And it doesn't work,
The familiar shape collides
With the currents of change,
No longer compatible,
A boat without a navigable course.
Scheme | AXBAX XXBXB XXCXX XBXBX XCXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1001101 010111 10111100 111111 0101101 1011010101 0101110 1011100 1111010110 101011100 1101101 1010010 100101 111001010 11011101 011010 0100100 10111 11101110 101101010 01101 0010101 101011 1100100 0101010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 763 |
Words | 147 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 121 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Written on July 01, 2023
Submitted by JoeStrickland on July 01, 2023
Modified by JoeStrickland on July 01, 2023
- 44 sec read
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"Outdated Ideas" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/163067/outdated-ideas>.
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