Analysis of At San Sebastian
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
The Countess sprawled beside the sea
As naked a she well could be;
Indeed her only garments were
A "G" string and a brassière
Her washerwoman was amazed,
And at the lady gazed and gazed, -
From billowy-bosom swell
To navel like a pink sea shell.
The Countess has of robes three score,
She doffs and leaves them on the floor;
She changes gowns ten times a ay,
Her chambermaid puts them away.
"How funny!" thinks the washer-wife;
"I've toiled and toiled throughout my life,
And only have, to hide my skin,
This old rag that I'm standing in."
The Countess never toiled at all;
She begged for coin when she was small,
And later, in the ancient fashion,
In gay resorts she peddled passion.|
But now to noble rank arrived,
(Tom wed the old Count she contrived)
Her youthful lover, lounging there,
Is hirsute as a teddy-bear.
The Countess will be honoured when
She dies past three-score years and ten.
The washer-women will wear out
With labour fifty years about . . .
Yet as the two look at each other
The Countess thinks: "So was my mother;
And washer-wife to live and die,
But for God's grace so would be I."
Scheme | AABCDDEE FFCCGGHH IIJJKKLL MMNNBBOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010101 11001111 01010100 0110011 01101 01010101 11101 11010111 01011111 11011101 11011101 011101 11010101 11010111 01011111 11111100 01010111 11111111 010001010 010111010 11110101 11011101 01010101 10110101 0101111 11111101 01010111 1110101 110111110 010111110 01011101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,082 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 212 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 06, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 104 Views
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"At San Sebastian" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31990/at-san-sebastian>.
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