Analysis of The Surprise
William Barnes 1801 (Bagber) – 1886
As there I left the road in May,
And took my way along a ground,
I found a glade with girls at play,
By leafy boughs close-hemmed around,
And there, with stores of harmless joys,
They plied their tongues, in merry noise:
Though little did they seem to fear
So queer a stranger might be near;
Teeh-hee! Look here! Hah! ha! Look there!
And oh! so playsome, oh! so fair.
And one would dance as one would spring,
Or bob or bow with leering smiles,
And one would swing, or sit and sing,
Or sew a stitch or two at whiles,
And one skipped on with downcast face,
All heedless, to my very place,
And there, in fright, with one foot out,
Made one dead step and turned about.
Heeh, hee, oh! oh! ooh! oo!—Look there!
And oh! so playsome, oh! so fair.
Away they scampered all, full speed,
By boughs that swung along their track,
As rabbits out of wood at feed,
At sight of men all scamper back.
And one pulled on behind her heel,
A thread of cotton, off her reel,
And oh! to follow that white clue,
I felt I fain could scamper too.
Teeh, hee, run here. Eeh! ee! Look there!
And oh! so playsome, oh! so fair.
Scheme | ababccddeE fgfghhiieE jkjkllmmeE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11110101 01110101 11011111 11011101 01111101 11110101 11011111 11010111 11111111 0111111 01111111 1111111 01111101 11011111 0111111 1111101 01011111 11110101 11111111 0111111 01110111 11110111 11011111 11111101 01110101 01110101 01110111 11111101 11111111 0111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,075 |
Words | 216 |
Sentences | 28 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 272 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 71 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 60 Views
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"The Surprise" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39055/the-surprise>.
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