Analysis of Are Ye Right, There, Michael?
William Percy French 1854 – 1920
You may talk of Columbus's sailing
Across the Atlantical Sea
But he never tried to go railing
From Ennis as far as Kilkee
You run for the train in the morning,
The excursion train starting at eight
You're there when the clock gives the warnin'
And there for an hour you'll wait
And as you're waiting in the train,
You'll hear the guard sing this refrain-
Are ye right there, Michael, are ye right?
Do you think that we'll be there before the night?
Ye've been so long in startin',
That ye couldn't say for startin'
Still ye might now, Michael,
So ye might!
They find out where the engine's been hiding,
And it drags you to Sweet Corofin;
Says the guard, Back her down on the siding
There's the goods from Kilrush comin' in.
Perhaps it comes in two hours,
Perhaps it breaks down on the way;
If it does, says the guard, be the powers,
We're here for the rest of the day!
Spoken:
And while you sit and curse your luck
The train backs down into a truck.
Are ye right there, Michael, are ye right?
Have ye got the parcel there for Mrs. White?
Ye haven't, oh begorra,
Say it's comin' down tomorra -
And well it might now, Michael,
So it might.
At Lahinch the sea shines like a jewel,
With joy you are ready to shout,
When the stoker cries out, There's no fuel,
And the fire's taytotally out.
But hand up that bit of log there -
I'll soon have ye out of the fix;
There's fine clamp of turf in the bog there.
And the rest go a-gatherin' sticks.
Spoken:
And while you're breakin' bits of tree,
You hear some wise remarks like these -
Are ye right there, Michael? Are ye right?
Do ye think that you can get the fire to light?
Oh an hour you'll require,
For the turf it might be drier -
Well it might now, Michael,
So it might.
Scheme | abaaacdcdd Eeddfe adadghgh Dii EejjfE fkfkjljl Dbx EejjfE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (34%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111010010 01011 111011110 1101111 111010010 001011011 11101101 01111011 01110001 11011101 111110111 11111110101 1111101 1110111 111110 111 1111010110 0111111 1011011010 1011110 01110110 01111101 1111011010 11101101 10 01110111 01110101 111110111 11101011101 11011 11111 0111110 111 110111010 11111011 1010111110 001011 11111111 11111101 111110011 0011011 10 0111111 11110111 111110111 111111101011 1110110 10111110 111110 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,678 |
Words | 335 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 6, 8, 3, 6, 8, 3, 6 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 163 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 77 Views
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"Are Ye Right, There, Michael?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41186/are-ye-right%2C-there%2C-michael%3F>.
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