Analysis of The Bold Princess Royal
Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)
O on the fourteenth day of February we sailed from the land
In the bold Princess Royal bound for Newfoundland.
We had forty bright sailors for our ship's companie,
And boldly from the eastward to the westward sailed we.
We had not been sailing scarce days two or three
When our man from the masthead a sail he did see.
She bore down upon us to see what we were,
When from under her mizzen black colours she wore.
My God cries our Captain what shall we do now
For there comes a bold pirate to rob us I know.
O no, cries our chief mate it cannot be so
For we'll spread out our reef boys and from her we'll go.
And when this bold pirate came up alongside
Through a loudspeaking trumpet he said 'Who are you?'
Our Captain walked the quarterdeck and he answered him so
'We come from fair London and we're bound for Cairo.'
Then draw up your courses and heave your ship to
For I've got a letter. I'll send on by you.
We'll draw up our courses and heave our ship to
But it will be in some harbour not alongside of you.
He chased us to windward for all that long day
He chased us to windward and night and a day
He chased us to windward but could not prevail
Whilst the bold Princess Royal did show them her tail.
Thank God cries our captain, since the pirate has gone
'Bring a cask of good brandy, fore and aft let it run.
Go down to your grog boys, and be of good cheer,
As long as we've sea-room my boys never fear
Scheme | XXAB BBXX AACC XDCC DDDD EEFF AAGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (29%) |
Metre | 110111110011101 001101011100 111011011011 0101010101011 11111011111 110110101111 11101111110 1110011111 111101011111 111011011111 111101111011 1111101101011 01111011011 1011011111 10101010011011 111110011110 11111001111 11101011111 1111010011011 11110110101111 11111011111 11111001001 11111011101 101101011101 1111010101011 1011110101111 11111101111 11111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,390 |
Words | 285 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 156 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 163 Views
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