Analysis of Tarantella

Hilaire Belloc 1870 (La Celle-Saint-Cloud) – 1953



Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
And the tedding and the spreading
Of the straw for a bedding,
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,
And the wine that tasted of tar?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
(Under the vine of the dark veranda)?
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,
Do you remember an Inn?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
Who hadn't got a penny,
And who weren't paying any,
And the hammer at the doors and the din?
And the hip! hop! hap!
Of the clap
Of the hands to the swirl and the twirl
Of the girl gone chancing,
Glancing,
Dancing,
Backing and advancing,
Snapping of the clapper to the spin
Out and in--
And the ting, tong, tang of the guitar!
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?

Never more;
Miranda,
Never more.
Only the high peaks hoar;
And Aragon a torrent at the door.
No sound
In the walls of the halls where falls
The tread
Of the feet of the dead to the ground,
No sound:
But the boom
Of the far waterfall like doom.


Scheme ABAccdeDbbADffaggxccccaaeABA HBHhhIxxiIjj
Poetic Form Tetractys  (40%)
Etheree  (20%)
Metre 1101011 010 1101011 0010010 1011010 00111001100 00111011 0010011011 1001101010 1101011010 1101011 0010011011 1101010 01101010 0010101001 00111 101 101101001 10111 10 10 100010 101010101 100 001111001 1101011 010 1101011 101 010 101 100111 010010101 11 00110111 01 101101101 11 101 1011011
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 993
Words 203
Sentences 16
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 28, 12
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 392
Words per stanza (avg) 101
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:01 min read
482

Hilaire Belloc

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902, but kept his French citizenship. more…

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