Analysis of manipulation

Richard Harris Barham 1788 (Canterbury) – 1845 (London)



Oh, my head! my head! my head!
Lack! for my poor unfortunate head!
Mister de Ville
Has been to feel,
And what do you think he said?
He felt it up, and he felt it down,
Behind the ears, and across the crown,
Sinciput, occiput, great and small,
Bumps and organs, he tickled 'em all;
And he shook his own, as he gravely said,
'Sir, you really have got a most singular head!

'Why here's a bump,
Only feel what a lump;
Why the organ of "Sound" is an absolute hump;
And only feel here,
Why, behind each ear,
There's a bump for a butcher or a bombardier;
Such organs of slaughter
Would spill blood like water;
Such "lopping and topping" of heads and of tails,
Why, you'll cut up a jackass with Alderman S--.'
[Caetera desunt.]


Scheme AAXXABBCCAA DDDEEXFFXXA
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111 111101001 1011 1111 0111111 111101111 010100101 11101 101011011 0111111101 111011011001 1101 101101 10101111101 01011 10111 10110101001 110110 111110 11001011011 11110111001 11
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 727
Words 141
Sentences 10
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 11, 11
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 269
Words per stanza (avg) 69
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
69

Richard Harris Barham

Richard Harris Barham was an English cleric of the Church of England, novelist, and humorous poet. more…

All Richard Harris Barham poems | Richard Harris Barham Books

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