Analysis of Her Terms
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
My wedded life
Must every pleasure bring
On scale extensive!
If I'm your wife
I must have everything
That's most expensive -
A lady's-maid -
(My hair alone to do
I am not able) -
And I'm afraid
I've been accustomed to
A first-rate table.
These things one must consider when one marries -
And everything I wear must come from Paris!
Oh, think of that!
Oh, think of that!
I can't wear anything that's not from Paris!
From top to toes
Quite Frenchified I am,
If you examine.
And then - who knows? -
Perhaps some day a fam -
Perhaps a famine!
My argument's correct, if you examine,
What should we do, if there should come a f-famine!
Though in green pea
Yourself you needn't stint
In July sunny,
In Januaree
It really costs a mint -
A mint of money!
No lamb for us -
House lamb at Christmas sells
At prices handsome:
Asparagus,
In winter, parallels
A Monarch's ransom:
When purse to bread and butter barely reaches,
What is your wife to do for hot-house peaches?
Ah! tell me that!
Ah! tell me that!
What IS your wife to do for hot-house peaches?
Your heart and hand
Though at my feet you lay,
All others scorning!
As matters stand,
There's nothing now to say
Except - good morning!
Though virtue be a husband's best adorning,
That won't pay rates and taxes - so, good morning!
Scheme | abcabcdefdefxgHHgijkijlkl mnmxnmopqopqrRHHRstbstbbb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (30%) Etheree (22%) |
Metre | 1101 1100101 11010 1111 11110 11010 0101 110111 11110 0101 110101 01110 11110101110 0101111110 1111 1111 1111011110 1111 1111 11010 0111 011101 01010 11000111010 111111110110 1011 011101 0110 01 110101 01110 1111 111101 11010 0100 01010 0110 11110101010 11111111110 1111 1111 11111111110 1101 111111 1101 1101 110111 01110 11010101010 11110101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,231 |
Words | 241 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 25, 25 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 484 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 120 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 26 Views
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"Her Terms" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41233/her-terms>.
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