Analysis of One From One Leaves Two

Ogden Nash 1902 (Rye, New York) – 1971 (Baltimore)



Higgledy piggledy, my black hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
Gentlemen come every day
To count what my black hen doth lay.
If perchance she lays too many,
They fine my hen a pretty penny;
If perchance she fails to lay,
The gentlemen a bonus pay.

Mumbledy pumbledy, my red cow,
She’s cooperating now.
At first she didn’t understand
That milk production must be planned;
She didn’t understand at first
She either had to plan or burst,
But now the government reports
She’s giving pints instead of quarts.

Fiddle de dee, my next-door neighbors,
They are giggling at their labors.
First they plant the tiny seed,
Then they water, then they weed,
Then they hoe and prune and lop,
They they raise a record crop,
Then they laugh their sides asunder,
And plow the whole caboodle under.

Abracadabra, thus we learn
The more you create, the less you earn.
The less you earn, the more you’re given,
The less you lead, the more you’re driven,
The more destroyed, the more they feed,
The more you pay, the more they need,
The more you earn, the less you keep,
And now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to take
If the tax-collector hasn’t got it before I wake.


Scheme XXAABBAA CCDDEEFF GGHHIIJJ KKLLHHMMNN
Poetic Form
Metre 11111 1111100 10011001 11111111 10111110 111101010 1011111 01000101 11111 101001 111101 11010111 110111 11011111 11010001 11010111 101111110 111001110 1110101 1110111 1110101 1110011 11111010 010101010 0010111 011010111 011101110 011101110 01010111 01110111 01110111 01111111 11011111 1010101110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,176
Words 243
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 10
Lines Amount 34
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 225
Words per stanza (avg) 53
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Submitted by JokerGem on April 04, 2023

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:12 min read
51

Ogden Nash

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) was, during his lifetime, the most well-known American writer of light verse, and his popularity has continued after his death. His witty style has been imitated by many, but none have quite equalled the old master. more…

All Ogden Nash poems | Ogden Nash Books

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