Analysis of A Short Song of Congratulation

Samuel Johnson 1709 (Lichfield) – 1784 (London)



LONG-EXPECTED one and twenty
Ling'ring year at last has flown,
Pomp and pleasure, pride and plenty
Great Sir John, are all your own.

Loosen'd from the minor's tether,
Free to mortgage or to sell,
Wild as wind, and light as feather
Bid the slaves of thrift farewell.

Call the Bettys, Kates, and Jenneys
Ev'ry name that laughs at care,
Lavish of your Grandsire's guineas,
Show the spirit of an heir.

All that prey on vice and folly
Joy to see their quarry fly,
Here the gamester light and jolly
There the lender grave and sly.

Wealth, Sir John, was made to wander,
Let it wander as it will;
See the jocky, see the pander,
Bid them come, and take their fill.

When the bonny blade carouses,
Pockets full, and spirits high,
What are acres? What are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.

If the Guardian or the Mother
Tell the woes of willful waste,
Scorn their counsel and their pother,
You can hang or drown at last.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF AGAG CHCH EGEG CXCX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (86%)
Metre 10101010 1111111 10101010 1111111 1010110 1110111 11101110 101111 101101 111111 1011110 1010111 11111010 1111101 1011010 1010101 11111110 1110111 1011010 1110111 101011 1010101 11101110 1011111 101001010 1011101 1110011 1111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 916
Words 170
Sentences 10
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 100
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

52 sec read
362

Samuel Johnson

The Reverend Doctor Samuel Johnson was a clergyman, educator, and philosopher in colonial British North America. more…

All Samuel Johnson poems | Samuel Johnson Books

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