Analysis of With Lullay, Lullay
John Skelton 1460 (Norfolk) – 1529 (London)
With lullay, lullay, like a child,
Thou sleepest too long, thou art beguiled!
"My darling dear, my daisy flower,
Let me," quoth he, "lie in your lap."
"Lie still," quoth she, "my paramour,
Lie still hardily, and take a nap."
His head was heavy, such was his hap,
All drowsy, dreaming, drowned in sleep,
That of his love he took no keep,
With hey, lullay, etc.
With ba, ba, ba, and bas, bas, bas!
She cherished him both cheek and chin
That he wist never where he was;
He had forgotten all deadly sin!
He wanted wit her love to win:
He trusted her payment and lost all his pay;
She left him sleeping and stale away,
With hey, lullay, etc.
The rivers rough, the waters wan;
She sparèd not to wet her feet.
She waded over, she found a man
That halsed her heartily and kissed her sweet;
Thus after her cold she caught a heat.
"My lief, she said, 'rowteth in his bed;
Iwys he hath an heavy head,"
With hey, lullay, etc.
What dreamest thou, drunkard, drowsy pate?
Thy lust and liking is from thee gone;
Thou blinkard blowboll, thou wakest too late;
Behold thou liest, luggard, alone!
Well may thou sigh, well may thou groan,
To deal with her so cowardly.
Ywis, pole-hatchet, she bleared thine eye!
Quoth Skelton Laureate.
Scheme | aabcbccddE fgfgghhE xixiijjE kxkllxx x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101 11111101 110111010 11111011 111111 1110101 111101111 11010101 11111111 111100 11110111 11011101 11110111 110101101 11010111 11001001111 111100101 111100 01010101 11111101 110101101 1101000101 110011101 11111011 1111101 111100 11110101 110101111 1111111 0111101 11111111 11101100 11101111 110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,190 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 8, 8, 7, 1 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 182 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 13, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 176 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"With Lullay, Lullay" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24119/with-lullay%2C-lullay>.
Discuss this John Skelton poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In