Analysis of The Lay of St. Odille



Odille was a maid of a dignified race;
Her father, Count Otto, was lord of Alsace;
Such an air, such a grace,
Such a form, such a face,
All agreed 'twere a fruitless endeavour to trace
In the Court, or within fifty miles of the place.
Many ladies in Strasburg were beautiful, still
They were beat all to sticks by the lovely Odille.

But Odille was devout, and, before she was nine,
Had 'experienced a call' she consider'd divine,
To put on the veil at St. Ermengarde's shrine.--
Lords, Dukes, and Electors, and Counts Palatine
Came to seek her in marriage from both sides the Rhine;
But vain their design,
They are all left to pine,
Their oglings and smiles are all useless; in fine,
Not one of these gentlefolks, try as they will,
Can draw 'Ask my papa' from the cruel Odille.

At length one of her suitors, a certain Count Herman,
A highly respectable man as a German,
Who smoked like a chimney, and drank like a merman,
Paid his court to her father, conceiving his firman
Would soon make her bend,
And induce her to lend
An ear to a love-tale in lieu of a sermon.
He gained the old Count, who said, 'Come, Mynheer, fill!--
Here's luck to yourself and my daughter Odille!'

The lady Odille was quite nervous with fear
When a little bird whisper'd that toast in her ear;
She murmur'd 'Oh, dear!
My papa has got queer,
I am sadly afraid, with that nasty strong beer!
He's so very austere, and severe, that it's clear
If he gets in his 'tantrums,' I can't remain here;
But St. Ermengarde's convent is luckily near;
It were folly to stay,
Pour prendre congé,
I shall put on my bonnet, and e'en run away!'
-- She unlock'd the back door, and descended the hill,
On whose crest stood the towers of the sire of Odille.

When he found she'd levanted, the Count of Alsace
At first turn'd remarkably red in the face;
He anathematized, with much unction and grace,
Every soul who came near, and consign'd the whole race
Of runaway girls to a very warm place.
With a frightful grimace
He gave orders for chase.
His vassals set off at a deuce of a pace,
And of all whom they met, high or low, Jack or Jill,
Ask'd, 'Pray, have you seen anything of Odille?'--

Now I think I've been told,-- for I'm no sporting man,--
That the 'knowing-ones' call this by far the best plan,
'Take the lead and then keep it!'-- that is if you can.--
Odille thought so too, so she set off and ran;
Put her best leg before,
Starting at score,
As I said some lines since, from that little back door,
And not being missed until half after four,
Had what hunters call 'law' for a good hour and more;
Doing her best,
Without stopping to rest,
Like 'young Lochinvar who came out of the West,'
''Tis done! I am gone!-- over briar, brook, and rill!
They'll be sharp lads who catch me!' said young Miss Odille.

But you've all read in Æsop, or Phædrus, or Gay,
How a tortoise and hare ran together one day,
How the hare, 'making play,
Progress'd right slick away,'
As 'them tarnation chaps' the Americans say;
While the tortoise, whose figure is rather outré
For racing, crawled straight on, without let or stay,
Having no post-horse duty or turnpikes to pay,
Till ere noon's ruddy ray
Changed to eve's sober grey,
Though her form and obesity caused some delay,
Perseverance and patience brought up her lee-way,
And she chased her fleet-footed 'praycursor,' until
She o'ertook her at last;-- so it fared with Odille.

For although, as I said, she ran gaily at first,
And show'd no inclination to pause, if she durst;
She at length felt opprest with the heat, and with thirst
Its usual attendant; nor was that the worst,
Her shoes went down at heel;-- at last one of them burst.
Now a gentleman smiles
At a trot of ten miles;
But not so the Fair; then consider the stiles,
And as then ladies seldom wore things with a frill
Round the ancle, these stiles sadly bother'd Odille.

Still, despite all the obstacles placed in her track,
She kept steadily on, though the terrible crack
In her shoe made of course her progression more slack,
Till she reached the Swartz Forest (in English The Black);
I cannot divine
How the boundary line
Was passed which is somewhere there formed by the Rhine.
Perhaps she'd the knack
To float o'er on her back.
Or perhaps crossed the old bridge of boats at Brisach,
(Which Vauban some years after secured from attack,
By a bastion of stone which the Germans call 'Wacke,')


Scheme ABAAAACC DDDDDDDDCC EEFEGGECC HIHHHHIHJKJCC BAAAAXAACC FFFFLLLLLMMMCC JJJJJHJJJJJJCC NNNNNOOOCC PPPPDDDPPXPK
Poetic Form Tetractys  (21%)
Metre 110110101 0101111101 111101 101101 101101001011 001101101101 101001001001 10111110101 11101001111 1010001101001 111011111 1100100110 111001011101 11101 111111 1101111001 111111111 11111010101 1111010010110 010010011010 11101001101 1111010010110 11101 001011 111011011010 1101111111 1110101101 0101111011 101011011001 11011 110111 111001111011 111001001111 111011011011 1111011001 101011 111 1111110011101 101011001001 1111010101011 1111101101 11101001001 1111101 1001111001011 1101101011 101010 111011 11011101101 011111111111 111111011 111111111101 101011111011 101011111111 1111111101 101101 1011 111111111011 01101011101 1110111011001 1001 011011 111111101 111111010101 11111111111 111101111111 101001101011 101101 011101 1111001001 10101101101 11011101111 10111101111 111101 111101 101001001101 01001011011 0110110101 1101111111 11111111011 01101011111 11111101011 110001011101 011111111111 101001 101111 11101101001 011101011101 1011110101 101101001001 111001101001 001111001011 111011001001 11001 101001 1111111101 01101 1110101 10110111111 11111001101 101011101011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 4,356
Words 816
Sentences 29
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 8, 10, 9, 13, 10, 14, 14, 10, 12
Lines Amount 100
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 369
Words per stanza (avg) 89
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

4:11 min read
59

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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