Analysis of Baseball by May Swenson

Many great men and women have written entire books about every aspect of the game; however, other than "Casey At Bat," few know about some of the other great poems that have appeared honoring our national pastime. Listed below is the baseball poem: Analysis of Baseball.

"Bat doesn't hit ball, bat meets it." - May Swenson
Analysis of Baseball

by May Swenson ©

Published: Memoirs of May Swenson (1971)

It's about
the ball,
the bat,
and the mitt.
Ball hits
bat, or it
hits mitt.
Bat doesn't
hit ball, bat
meets it.
Ball bounces
off bat, flies
air, or thuds
ground (dud)
or it
fits mitt.

Bat waits
for ball
to mate.
Ball hates
to take bat's
bait. Ball
flirts, bat's
late, don't
keep the date.
Ball goes in
(thwack) to mitt,
and goes out
(thwack) back
to mitt.

Ball fits
mitt, but
not all
the time.
Sometimes
ball gets hit
(pow) when bat
meets it,
and sails
to a place
where mitt
has to quit
in disgrace.
That's about
the bases
loaded,
about 40,000
fans exploded.

It's about
the ball,
the bat,
the mitt,
the bases
and the fans.
It's done
on a diamond,
and for fun.
It's about
home, and it's
about run.

Analysis of Baseball by May Swenson ©



May Swenson received numerous awards for her poetry including: American Introductions Prize in 1955; William Rose Benet Prize of the Poetry Society of America in 1959; Longview Foundation Award in 1959; National Institute of Arts and Letters Award in 1960; Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in 1967; Lucy Martin Donnelly Award of Bryn Mawr College in 1968; and the Shelley Poetry Award in 1968.

May Swenson was born in Logan, Utah in 1919. She attended Utah State University and received a bachelor's degree in 1939.

Did you know that early baseball poems, even one like this, in their original publication demand top dollar at auctions