Miniver Cheevy

“Miniver Cheevy” is written in 32 enjambed lines (lines that do not end in a punctuation mark), broken up into quatrains, or stanzas of four lines each. While the first and third lines of each stanza conform to iambic tetrameter—a meter consisting of four sets of syllables following the pattern of unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one—this meter is inconsistent throughout the poem. The second line of every stanza is longest at nine syllables, and the last line of each stanza is shortest at five syllables each. These irregularities resemble Miniver himself, a man out of step with the era he lives in.

The poem follows an ABAB rhyme scheme, with the “A” rhymes being masculine (on the final syllable, such as “scorn” and “born” in lines 1 and 3) and the “B” rhymes being feminine (involving two syllables, such as “seasons” and “reasons” in lines 2 and 4). Masculine rhymes end on a stressed syllable, making the rhyme more prominent and abrupt, whereas feminine rhymes end on an unstressed syllable and come to a more gradual halt. In “Miniver Cheevy,” each stanza ends with a feminine rhyme and give the impression of a thought drifting off without resolution.