Analysis of The Sheep

Ellis Parker Butler 1869 (Muscatine) – 1937 (Williamsville)



The Sheep adorns the landscape rural
And is both singular and plural—
It gives grammarians the creeps
To hear one say, 'A flock of sheeps.'

The Sheep is gentle, meek and mild,
And led in herds by man or child—
Being less savage than the rabbit,
Sheep are gregarious by habit.

The Sheep grows wool and thus promotes
The making of vests, pants and coats—
Vests, pants and coats and woolen cloths
Provide good food for hungry moths.

With vegetables added to
The Sheep, we get our mutton stew—
Experiments long since revealed
The Sheep should first be killed and peeled.

Thus, with our debt to them so deep,
All men should cry 'Praise be for Sheep!'—
And, if we happen to be shepherds,
'Praise be they’re not as fierce as leopards!'


Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 01010110 011100010 11101 11110111 01110101 01011111 101101010 110100110 01110101 01011101 11010101 01111101 1100101 011110101 01001101 01111101 111011111 11111111 011101110 111111110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 729
Words 137
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 114
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
127

Ellis Parker Butler

Ellis Parker Butler was an American author. more…

All Ellis Parker Butler poems | Ellis Parker Butler Books

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