Analysis of A Lament For S. B. Pat Paw
Louisa May Alcott 1832 – 1888
We mourn the loss of our little pet,
And sigh o'er her hapless fate,
For never more by the fire she'll sit,
Nor play by the old green gate.
The little grave where her infant sleeps
Is 'neath the chestnut tree.
But o'er her grave we may not weep,
We know not where it may be.
Her empty bed, her idle ball,
Will never see her more;
No gentle tap, no loving purr
Is heard at the parlor door.
Another cat comes after her mice,
A cat with a dirty face,
But she does not hunt as our darling did,
Nor play with her airy grace.
Her stealthy paws tread the very hall
Where Snowball used to play,
But she only spits at the dogs our pet
So gallantly drove away.
She is useful and mild, and does her best,
But she is not fair to see,
And we cannot give her your place dear,
Nor worship her as we worship thee.
Scheme | ABXB XCXC DEXE XFXF DGAG XCXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101110101 01100101 1101101011 1110111 010110101 11011 110011111 1111111 01010101 110101 11011101 1110101 010111001 0110101 11111110101 1110101 010110101 11111 11101101101 1100101 1110010101 1111111 011010111 110011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 782 |
Words | 164 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 127 Views
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"A Lament For S. B. Pat Paw" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26028/a-lament-for-s.-b.-pat-paw>.
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