Analysis of The Two MP's

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



MAGAZINE PUBLISHER AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT)

BEING A TRUE AND PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND MILLING MATCH THAT DIDN'T TAKE PLACE

SAYS Tom D-- to F--r
T'other morning, 'I say, Sir,
You've call'd me a Roué, a Dicer, and Racer,
Now I'd have you to know, Sir,
Such names are "No Go," Sir;
By Jove, Sir, I never knew anything grosser.

'And then Madame --
Extremely distrest is
At your calling her Lais -- she's more like Thalestris,
As you'll find, my fine joker,
If once you provoke her,
She's a d--l if once she gets hold of a poker.

'For myself, to be candid,
And not underhanded,
I write thus to say I'll be hang'd if I stand it.
So give up the name
Of the man or the dame
Who has made this infernal attack on my fame,
And recall what you've said of
A man you're afraid of,
Or turn out, my Trump, and let's see what you're made of.

'I have "barkers" by Nock, Sir,
With percussion locks, Sir,
Will give you your gruel -- hang me if I box, Sir,
And I've sent my old Pal in,
My "noble friend Allen,"
To give you this here, and to stop your caballing!'

Then says F--r, says he,
'What a spoon you must be,
Tommy D--, to send this here message to me:
Why if I was to fight about
What my friends write about,
My life I should be in continual fright about!

'As to telling you, who
Wrote that thing about you,
One word's worth a thousand -- Blow me if I do!
If you will be so gay, Sir,
The people will say, Sir,
That you are a Roué, and I'm


Scheme X A XBBBBB XXABBB XXXCCCDDD BBBXXX EEEFFF GGGBBX
Poetic Form
Metre 101000101100 1001001000110110111011 111111 11010111 1110101010 1111111 111111 11111011010 0110 01011 1110011111 1111110 111010 1011111111010 111110 011010 111111111111 11101 101101 111101001111 011111 011011 111110111111 1110111 101011 111110111111 0111110 110110 1111101111 111111 101111 10111111011 11111101 111101 1111100100101 111011 111011 11101011111 1111111 010111 1110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,442
Words 292
Sentences 8
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 6, 6, 9, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 41
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 130
Words per stanza (avg) 36
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:31 min read
98

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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