Analysis of The Ascent
Brian L. Cooper 1970 (Van Buren, AR)
The Ascent
By Brian Cooper
There once was a man who suffered from an illness
He was therefore granted medication to eliminate his stress
In taking the medication he appeared not under duress
But in his mind was both joy and sorrow’s mess
His senses were dulled so he would capitulate
It appeared he had with what medication he ate
But he remained in a karmic emotional vegetative state
That led to a desire to feel more of what made life great
Through this mental state he could not discern his existence
But rather only imitate those who made the most sense
He proceeded to travel through life avoiding those most tense
Only to graduate to the point of becoming emotionally dense
But he happened to ponder through imitated logic
A way for him to escape his personality’s colic
And enjoy life again as a child he once did frolic
Through a change in his medication’s biologic
Upon this change he threw away the fog of antidote
And began to thankfully again smile as he wrote
The medication that caused his mind’s eye to cloak
Was gone from his sight and now he does gloat
The illness had been dulled but his thoughts were clear
He realized his suffering was but a path drawn near
To his life so he can learn what he valued dear
Learning he suffered so that he might one day be his own seer
He realized his suffering was not wasted and in vain
Because of all the knowledge he had organized and gained
He drew into a convulsive state and without disdain
Thirsting for more understanding through suffering obtained
He finally concluded that a human being’s life of ailment
Was but a course in an education of peace and contentment
So that we may know joy fully and without dissent
And strengthen our soul’s ascent to enlightenment
Scheme | AX XBBB XCCC XDDD EEEE FFXF GGGX HIHI JJAJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 001 11010 111011101110 11110010101011 010001010111010 10111110101 110011110100 101111101011 110100101000101 111001011111111 11101111011010 1101010111011 101011011010111 101100101101001001 1110110110010 0111101111 00110110111110 10101010010 0111110101110 0011100011111 00101111111 1111101111 01011111101 1101100110111 111111111101 101101111111111 11011001110001 0111010111001 11010010100101 111010110001 11000101010101110 110101010110010 1111111000101 0101010110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,706 |
Words | 313 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 41 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 156 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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"The Ascent" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/99288/the-ascent>.
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