Analysis of Will O' The Wisp
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
Follow me, follow me,
Over brake and under tree,
Thro' the bosky tanglery,
Brushwood and bramble!
Follow me, follow me,
Laugh and leap and scramble!
Follow, follow,
Hill and hollow,
Fosse and burrow,
Fen and furrow,
Down into the bulrush beds,
'Midst the reeds and osier heads,
In the rushy soaking damps,
Where the vapours pitch their camps,
Follow me, follow me,
For a midnight ramble!
O! what a mighty fog,
What a merry night O ho!
Follow, follow, nigher, nigher -
Over bank, and pond, and briar,
Down into the croaking ditches,
Rotten log,
Spotted frog,
Beetle bright
With crawling light,
What a joy O ho!
Deep into the purple bog -
What a joy O ho!
Where like hosts of puckered witches
All the shivering agues sit
Warming hands and chafing feet,
By the blue marsh-hovering oils:
O the fools for all their moans!
Not a forest mad with fire
Could still their teeth, or warm their bones,
Or loose them from their chilly coils.
What a clatter,
How they chatter!
Shrink and huddle,
All a muddle!
What a joy O ho!
Down we go, down we go,
What a joy O ho!
Soon shall I be down below,
Plunging with a grey fat friar,
Hither, thither, to and fro,
Breathing mists and whisking lamps,
Plashing in the shiny swamps;
While my cousin Lantern Jack,
With cook ears and cunning eyes,
Turns him round upon his back,
Daubs him oozy green and black,
Sits upon his rolling size,
Where he lies, where he lies,
Groaning full of sack -
Staring with his great round eyes!
What a joy O ho!
Sits upon him in the swamps
Breathing mists and whisking lamps!
What a joy O ho!
Such a lad is Lantern Jack,
When he rides the black nightmare
Through the fens, and puts a glare
In the friar's track.
Such a frolic lad, good lack!
To turn a friar on his back,
Trip him, clip him, whip him, nip him.
Lay him sprawling, smack!
Such a lad is Lantern Jack!
Such a tricksy lad, good lack!
What a joy O ho!
Follow me, follow me,
Where he sits, and you shall see!
Scheme | AabcAcddbbeeffAcgdbbhigjjDgDhklmnbnmbbccDdDdbbFopqppqqpqDoFDPbbppprpPpDAa |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101 1010101 1011 1010 101101 101010 1010 1010 1010 1010 1010101 101011 001101 101111 101101 10110 110101 1010111 101011 10101010 10101010 101 101 101 1101 10111 1010101 10111 1111110 1010011 1010101 10111001 1011111 10101110 11111111 11111101 1010 1110 1010 1010 10111 111111 10111 1111101 10101110 101101 101011 100101 1110101 1110101 1110111 111101 1011101 111111 10111 1011111 10111 1011001 101011 10111 1011101 111011 1010101 0011 1010111 11010111 11111111 11101 1011101 101111 10111 101101 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,932 |
Words | 366 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 73 |
Lines Amount | 73 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,467 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 364 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 131 Views
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"Will O' The Wisp" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15699/will-o%27-the-wisp>.
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