Analysis of The Chameleon



As the Chameleon, who is known
To have no colours of his own,
But borrows from his neighbour's hue
His white or black, his green or blue,
And struts as much in ready light,
Which credit gives him upon sight,
As if the rainbow were entail
Settled on him and his heirs-male;
So the young 'squire, when first he comes
From country school to Will's or Tom's,
And equally in truth is fit
To be a statesman or a wit,
Without one notion of his own,
He saunters wildly up and down,
Till some acquaintance good or bad,
Takes notice of a staring lad,
Admits him in among the gang;
They jest, reply, dispute, harangue;
He acts and talks as they befriend him,
Smear'd with the colours which they lend him.

Thus merely as his fortune chances
His merit or his vice advances.

If haply the sect pursues
That read and comment upon news,
He takes up their mysterious face;
He drinks his coffee without lace:
This week his mimic tongue runs o'er
What they had said the week before;
His wisdom sets all Europe right,
And teaches Marlborough when to fight.

Or if it be his fate to meet
With folks who have more wealth than wit,
He loves cheap Port and double bub,
And settles in the Humdrum club:
He learns how stocks will fall or rise;
Holds poverty the greatest vice;
Thinks wit the bane of conversation,
And says that learning spoils a nation.

But if at first he minds his hits,
And drinks Champaigne among the wits,
Five deep he toasts the towering lasses,
Repeats yon verse wrote on glasses:
Is in the chair, prescribes the law,
And lies with those he never saw.


Scheme AABBCCDDEXFFAXGGHHII JJ KKLLXXCC XFMMXXNN OOEJPP
Poetic Form
Metre 100100111 1111111 1101111 11111111 01110101 11011011 1101001 10110111 10111111 11011111 01000111 11010101 01110111 1110101 11010111 11010101 01100101 11010101 110111011 11011111 110111010 110111010 110101 11010011 111101001 11110011 111101110 11110101 11011101 010100111 11111111 11111111 11110101 0100011 11111111 11000101 11011010 011101010 11111111 0110101 111101001 01111110 10010101 01111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,512
Words 290
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 20, 2, 8, 8, 6
Lines Amount 44
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 242
Words per stanza (avg) 58
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

1:28 min read
158

Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior was an English poet and diplomat. more…

All Matthew Prior poems | Matthew Prior Books

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