Analysis of Djolan
Ellis Parker Butler 1869 (Muscatine) – 1937 (Williamsville)
Soft was the night, the eve how airy,
When through the big, fat dictionary
I wandered on in careless ease,
And read the a's, b's, c's and d's!
But stop! What is this form I see,
Beginning with a hump-backed d?
I pause! I gasp! I falter there!
It is the djolan, I declare!
It is the djolan, wond'rous word!
The Buceros plicatus bird!
Ne'er, ne'er before had I the bliss
To meet a djolly word like this!
'Twas djust before my dinner hour --
Well, let the djuicy djoint go sour!
Djoyful I read. I djust must see
What this strange djolan word may be!
Ah! ha! It is a noun! A noun!
(A ''name word" as we say in town)
"E. Ind. The native name of the
Year bird." These are the words I see.
"A hornbill with a white tail and --"
The big book trembles in my hand --
"-- plicated membrane at the base --"
Ah, well-a-day! If that's the case!
"-- base of the beak, inhabiting --"
Oh! dictionary, wond'rous thing!
"-- the Sunda Islands ----" Where would we
Without our dictionary be?
"-- Malacca, e-t-c." That's all!
I let the dictionary fall.
I am replete. All is explained.
Knowledge (it's power) is what I've gained!
Soft was the night, the eve how airy,
I read no more the dictionary,
But Oh! and Oh! my heart was stirred
To learn the djolan was a bird!
Submitted by John Martin
Scheme | Aabb aacc ddee ffaa ggxa xxhh iiaa jjkk Aadd x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101110 11011100 11010101 01011101 11111111 01010111 11111101 1101101 110111 0111 11011101 1101111 110111010 11011110 1111111 1111111 11110101 01111101 11010110 11110111 0110110 0111011 11101 11011101 11010100 110011 0110111 01101001 01011111 1101001 11011101 101101111 110101110 11110100 11011111 1101101 0101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,241 |
Words | 249 |
Sentences | 36 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 55 Views
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"Djolan" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11039/djolan>.
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