Analysis of William Rufus
Marriott Edgar 1880 (Kirkcudbright) – 1951 (Battle)
The reign of King William the Second
Were an uninteresting affair
There's only two things that's remembered of him
That's his sudden death and his red hair.
He got his red hair from his Mother,
The crown that he wore were his Dad's,
And the arrow that came at the end of his reign
Were a well-deserved gift from the lads.
For William were cunning and cruel,
Addicted to every vice
He'd bluster and perjure and ravage and murder,
Apart from all that... he weren t nice.
He'd two brothers called Robert and Henry,
One older, one younger than he,
And by terms of the Will of old Conqueror Bill
The estate had been split into three.
Thus William became King of England;
And Normandy... that went to Bob;
Young Hal got no throne, but received a cash bonus
Instead of a regular job.
But Bob weren't content with his Dukedom,
And Will weren't content with his throne
Both wanted the lot and each started to plot
How to add t'other share to his own.
Young Hal went from one to the other,
Telling each as be thought he were right,
And mixing the pudding he roused the bad blood in
Them both till they reckoned they'd fight.
So Will got his army together
And planned an invasion of France,
But HaI chanced to find out what Will had in mind
And sent Robert a line in advance.
The result were when Bill crossed the Channel,
Instead of t'surprise that were meant,
He was met on the shore by Duke Bob and his Normans.
And came back as fast as he went.
And later when Bob crossed to England,
Intending to ravage and sack,
It were Henry again who upset the campaign
And t'were Robert this time that went back
After one or two sim'lar debacles
They tumbled to Henry's tricks,
And joined with each other to find their young brother
And take him and knock him for six.
But Henry got wind of their coming,
And made off without more ado
To his fortified pitch on the Isle of St. Michel,
From which he cocked snooks at the two.
When they found things had come to a deadlock
They shook hands and called it a day,
But though Henry pretended that quarrels was ended
He still had a card he could play.
He came back to England with William
And started a whispering campaign
To spoil his prestige with his vassals and lieges
Which whispering wasn't in vain.
For one day when William were hunting
An arrow from somewhere took wing,
And William were shot, falling dead on the spot,
And Henry proclaimed himself King.
So young Henry, who started with nothing,
At the finish held England in thrall,
And as Bob were away with a party Crusading,
He pinched his possessions and all.
Scheme | ABXB CDED FGCG HHXH AIXI JKLK CMXM CNXN FODO APEP XQCQ RSXS XTXT JEDE RRLR RURU |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 011110010 01010001 11011101011 111010111 111111110 01111011 001011101111 001011101 110010010 01011001 110010010010 011111111 1110110010 11011011 011101111001 001111011 110011110 01001111 111111010110 01101001 1110101110 011010111 11001011011 1111101111 111111010 101111101 010010110110 11111011 111110010 01101011 11111111101 011001001 0010111010 011101101 111101111011 01111111 010111110 01011001 101001101001 0101011111 1011111010 1101101 011110111110 01101111 110111110 01101101 111011011101 11111101 111111101 11101101 1110010110110 11101111 111110110 010010001 11101111001 11001001 111110010 1101111 01001101101 01001011 1110110110 101011001 0110011010010 11101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,515 |
Words | 477 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:27 min read
- 83 Views
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"William Rufus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/26592/william-rufus>.
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