Analysis of Brass Spittoons
Langston Hughes 1902 (Joplin) – 1967 (New York City)
Clean the spittoons, boy.
Detroit,
Chicago,
Atlantic City,
Palm Beach.
Clean the spittoons.
The steam in hotel kitchens,
And the smoke in hotel lobbies,
And the slime in hotel spittoons:
Part of my life.
Hey, boy!
A nickel,
A dime,
A dollar,
Two dollars a day.
Hey, boy!
A nickel,
A dime,
A dollar,
Two dollars
Buy shoes for the baby.
House rent to pay.
Gin on Saturday,
Church on Sunday.
My God!
Babies and gin and church
And women and Sunday
All mixed with dimes and
Dollars and clean spittoons
And house rent to pay.
Hey, boy!
A bright bowl of brass is beautiful to the Lord.
Bright polished brass like the cymbals
Of King David’s dancers,
Like the wine cups of Solomon.
Hey, boy!
A clean spittoon on the altar of the Lord.
A clean bright spittoon all newly polished—
At least I can offer that.
Com’mere, boy!
Scheme | abcdeffffgAHIJkAHIJfdkdklmknfkAoffpAoqra |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (48%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1011 01 01 01010 11 101 0100110 00100110 0010011 1111 11 010 01 010 11001 11 010 01 010 110 111010 1111 11100 111 11 100101 01001 11110 10011 01111 11 011111100101 11011010 111010 10111100 11 0111010101 011111010 1111101 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 920 |
Words | 182 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 16 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 621 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 150 |
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"Brass Spittoons" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/125948/brass-spittoons>.
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