Analysis of The Ballad Of A Bachelor
Ellis Parker Butler 1869 (Muscatine) – 1937 (Williamsville)
Listen, ladies, while I sing
The ballad of John Henry King.
John Henry was a bachelor,
His age was thirty-three or four.
Two maids for his affection vied,
And each desired to be his bride,
And bravely did they strive to bring
Unto their feet John Henry King.
John Henry liked them both so well,
To save his life he could not tell
Which he most wished to be his bride,
Nor was he able to decide.
Fair Kate was jolly, bright, and gay,
And sunny as a summer day;
Marie was kind, sedate, and sweet,
With gentle ways and manners neat.
Each was so dear that John confessed
He could not tell which he liked best.
He studied them for quite a year,
And still found no solution near,
And might have studied two years more
Had he not, walking on the shore,
Conceived a very simple way
Of ending his prolonged delay--
A way in which he might decide
Which of the maids should be his bride.
He said, "I'll toss into the air
A dollar, and I'll toss it fair;
If heads come up, I'll wed Marie;
If tails, fair Kate my bride shall be."
Then from his leather pocket-book
A dollar bright and new he took;
He kissed one side for fair Marie,
The other side for Kate kissed he.
Then in a manner free and fair
He tossed the dollar in the air.
"Ye fates," he cried, "pray let this be
A lucky throw indeed for me!"
The dollar rose, the dollar fell;
He watched its whirling transit well,
And off some twenty yards or more
The dollar fell upon the shore.
John Henry ran to where it struck
To see which maiden was in luck.
But, oh, the irony of fate!
Upon its edge the coin stood straight!
And there, embedded in the sand,
John Henry let the dollar stand!
And he will tempt his fate no more,
But live and die a bachelor.
Thus, ladies, you have heard me sing
The ballad of John Henry King.
Submitted by John Martin
Scheme | aA bc dd aa ee dd ff gg hh ii cc ff dd jj kk ll kk jj kk ee cc mm nn oo cb aA x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010111 01011101 11010100 11110111 11110101 010101111 01011111 10111101 11011111 11111111 11111111 1111011 11110101 01010101 01110101 11010101 11111101 11111111 11011101 01110101 01110111 11110101 01010101 11010101 0101111 11011111 11110101 01001111 11111101 11111111 11110101 01010111 11111101 01011111 10010101 11010001 11111111 01010111 01010101 11110101 01110111 01010101 11011111 11110101 11010011 01110111 01010001 11010101 01111111 11010100 11011111 01011101 0101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,739 |
Words | 352 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 27 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 |
Lines Amount | 53 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 51 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 13 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 407 Views
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"The Ballad Of A Bachelor" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11064/the-ballad-of-a-bachelor>.
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