Analysis of Song of the Edinburgh Academician

James Clerk Maxwell 1831 (Edinburgh, Scotland) – 1879 (Cambridge, England)



If ony here has got an ear,
He'd better tak’ a haud o’ me,
Or I'll begin, wi’ roarin’ din,
To cheer our old Academy.

Dear old Academy,
Queer old Academy,
A merry lot we were, I wot,
When at the old Academy.

There's some may think me crouse wi’ drink,
And some may think it mad o’ me,
But ither some will gladly come
And cheer our old Academy.

Some set their hopes on Kings and Popes,
But, o’ the sons of Adam, he
Was first, without the smallest doubt,
That built the first Academy.

Let Pedants seek for scraps of Greek,
Their lingo to Macadamize;
Gie me the sense, without pretence,
That comes o’ Scots Academies.

Let scholars all, both grit and small,
Of Learning mourn the sad demise;
That's as they think, but we will drink
Good luck to Scots Academies.


Scheme XAXA AABA CAXA DABA XDDE XXCE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 1111111 11010111 1101111 111010100 110100 110100 01011011 11010100 11111111 01111111 1111101 011010100 11111101 11011101 11010101 11010100 1111111 11011 1101011 11110100 11011101 11010101 11111111 11110100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 757
Words 146
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
34

James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics.  more…

All James Clerk Maxwell poems | James Clerk Maxwell Books

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