Analysis of A Bush Study, A La Watteau
Arthur Patchett Martin 1851 (Woolwich, Kent) – 1902 (Tenerife)
HE.
See the smoke-wreaths how they curl so lightly skyward
From the ivied cottage nestled in the trees:
Such a lovely spot—I really feel that I would
Be happy there with children on my knees.
SHE.
No, you wouldn’t. These are merely idle fancies
Of a gentleman much given to day-dreams.
These chimneys always smoke, and, then the chance is
You would have a scolding wife and babe that screams.
HE.
Ah! but look! just there, above that lowly cottage,
Birds are flitting in the sunlight clear and pure;
And the three-score years and ten—man’s poor allottage—
Might be passed away with pleasure there, I’m sure.
SHE.
Now, pray listen, oh, vain wanderer from the city,
And look bravely up and meet my searching eyes:
Would you give up all your town life, bright and witty,
Just because the cottage smoke curls to the skies?
HE.
I regret to find you’re one of those young ladies—
Pet productions of this artificial age:
Rural solitude to you is simply Hades,
And your paradise the ballroom or the stage.
SHE.
Yes, forsooth! and why? Because, my airy dreamer,
I can use my eyes as well as gaily dance—
See the Husband, Wife, the Lover, Dupe and Schemer,
All whirling past and weaving a romance.
HE.
You think, then, Miss, such dreadful social questions
Are like cards, designed to pass away the time;
Do you not perceive that all these pseudo-Christians
Are but moths that flutter round the candle Crime?
SHE.
At the play, too, where I oft with dear mamma go,
There’s the drama being acted in the boards;
And Othello, Desdemona, and Iago
In the boxes, p’raps, without the paint and swords.
HE.
Well, that may be, but the life of show and fashion
You so prize above the simple joys around,
Is all false; more noble manhood and true passion
In the daily lives of rustics may be found.
SHE.
Think you then that those who dwell in rural places
Are quite free from every evil thought and deed?
Pray speak unto the swain who hither paces
With slow steps, as though in pain, across the mead.
HE.
If you will not sneer, I’ll ask him for his story;
But expect not that his daily life shall be
Full of famous deeds; he careth not for glory,
But lived by honest labour, pure and free.
SHE.
Speak on; speak! and let me hear this modern idyll
From the lips of yonder heavy-footed swain;—
By-the-bye, his wild, erratic sort of sidle
Seems to indicate that he the bowl doth drain.
HE.
Hush—he’ll overhear….O tell me, gentle cottar,
Dwellest thou here remote from carking care and strife?
SUNDOWNER.
What’s that to you? Are you a bloated squatter?
Better clear, old man [hic] ’companied by your wife.
HE.
Thou mistakest me, thou toil-worn man and humble;
I own no lands where graze the peaceful sheep.
Thou art stirred with deep emotion, and dost mumble—
Speak up bravely, brother man, and do not weep.
SUNDOWNER.
Hot to-day, guv’nor; let’s go and have a liquor;
Lady take anything?—Bless you I can pay—
Haven’t had one yet, and nothing makes me sicker
Than abstaining altogether such a day.
Sings
Shearing sheep is dry work,
Kissing girls is sly work;
But drinking deep is my work;
So, let’s drink, boys, drink!
HE.
Come, Mabel, come. He is worse than Turk or Bulgar,
And his presence doth the very air pollute.
SHE.
Well, I must confess he is a trifle vulgar;
But what you say now, my dreamer?
HE.
I am mute.
Scheme | Axbxb Abcdc Aefef Aagag Abhbh Aijij Aklkl Amnmn Aopop Axqdq Aaaaa Arsrs Aft Fit Aruru Fiviv xwwwx Afx Aii Ax |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 101111111010 1011010001 101011101111 1101110111 1 11111101010 10100110111 1101101011 11101010111 1 111110111010 1110001101 0011101111 11101110111 1 1110111001010 01101011101 111111111010 10101011101 1 101111111110 1010110101 10101111010 011001101 1 11010111010 11111111101 101010101010 1101010001 1 11111101010 11101110101 111011111010 11111010101 1 101111111101 10101010001 001010010 00101010101 1 111110111010 11101010101 11111010110 0010111111 1 111111101010 111110010101 11100111010 11111010101 1 111111111110 10111110111 11101111110 111101101 1 111011111010 10111010101 101110101110 1110110111 1 11101111101 1110111101 1 01111101010 1011111111 1 1111111010 1111110101 111110100110 11101010111 1 11111101010 1011011111 11110101110 1010010101 1 101111 101111 1101111 11111 1 11011111111 01101010101 1 111011101010 11111110 1 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,257 |
Words | 599 |
Sentences | 54 |
Stanzas | 20 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 2 |
Lines Amount | 89 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:59 min read
- 115 Views
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"A Bush Study, A La Watteau" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3911/a-bush-study%2C-a-la-watteau>.
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