Analysis of The Ex Official's Lament
William Gay 1865 (Scotland) – 1897
Alas alas! my power is gone;
I thought 'twould last for ever;
But now 'tis over, I must own,
They've done it very clever.
I could have feather'd well my nest,
If I had been permitted;
To that intent I did my best,
To have my friend acquitted.
'Congratulatory address'
I also did procure him.
Among my influential class
And thought this must secure him.
In fact, I left no means untried,
To smother up the matter,
And on my influence relied,
To stop the diggers' chatter.
But rumours soon got spread about,
Of this our camp proceeding;
And very soon we all found out,
That discontent was breeding.
At last, the diggers on the place,
Determined to assemble:-
Which, when I saw I must confess;
I inwardly did tremble.
And yet to awe the vulgar crowd,
I got the troopers round me;
When groans and hisses long and loud,
Completely did confound me.
My brethren then with all their might,
Endeavoured to allay them:-
When lo! it rose to such a height;
No speech of ours could stay them.
I, always thought the common herd
Should render blind submission:-
Should ne'er have once presumed or dared
To question our decision.
But, now they talk about their 'rights',
As much as their superiors:-
Though 'Gentlemen' I'm certain quite,
All view them as inferiors.
Could we but get them down once more,
We'd hold them in such fetters,
As would restrain them evermore,
From meddling with their betters.
But, now, alas! I see no way,
To gratify my wishes:-
With all our schemes we've lost the day,
For getting loaves and fishes.
Intelligence is gaining ground,
We can hold out no longer:-
Where'er I cast my eyes around,
The 'league' is getting stronger.
Left to our fate, we can but grieve,
To see their ranks increasing:
Oh! could we have have a short reprieve,
The diggers to be fleecing.
Scheme | ABCBDEDEFGHGIBIBJKJKLMFMNONOPQPQRSTSUVPFWVWVXYXZ1 B1 B2 K2 K |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010111011 1111110 11110111 1111010 11110111 1111010 11011111 1111010 010001 1101011 0110101 0111011 01111101 1101010 01110001 1101010 1011101 11101010 01011111 1001110 11010101 0101010 11111101 1100110 01110101 1101011 11010101 0101011 11011111 11011 11111101 11110111 1110101 1101010 11110111 11010010 11110111 11110100 11001101 11111 11111111 1110110 1101110 11001110 11011111 110110 111011101 1101010 01001101 1111110 10111101 0111010 111011111 1111010 111110101 0101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,727 |
Words | 326 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 56 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,368 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 318 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 79 Views
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