Analysis of Little Oliver
EARL JOYCE he was a kind old party
Whom nothing ever could put out,
Though eighty-two, he still was hearty,
Excepting as regarded gout.
He had one unexampled daughter,
The LADY MINNIE-HAHA JOYCE,
Fair MINNIE-HAHA, "Laughing Water,"
So called from her melodious voice.
By Nature planned for lover-capture,
Her beauty every heart assailed;
The good old nobleman with rapture
Observed how widely she prevailed
Aloof from all the lordly flockings
Of titled swells who worshipped her,
There stood, in pumps and cotton stockings,
One humble lover - OLIVER.
He was no peer by Fortune petted,
His name recalled no bygone age;
He was no lordling coronetted -
Alas! he was a simple page!
With vain appeals he never bored her,
But stood in silent sorrow by -
He knew how fondly he adored her,
And knew, alas! how hopelessly!
Well grounded by a village tutor
In languages alive and past,
He'd say unto himself, "Knee-suitor,
Oh, do not go beyond your last!"
But though his name could boast no handle,
He could not every hope resign;
As moths will hover round a candle,
So hovered he about her shrine.
The brilliant candle dazed the moth well:
One day she sang to her Papa
The air that MARIE sings with BOTHWELL
In NEIDERMEYER'S opera.
(Therein a stable boy, it's stated,
Devoutly loved a noble dame,
Who ardently reciprocated
His rather injudicious flame.)
And then, before the piano closing
(He listened coyly at the door),
She sang a song of her composing -
I give one verse from half a score:
Why, pretty page, art ever sighing?
Is sorrow in thy heartlet lying?
Come, set a-ringing
Thy laugh entrancing,
And ever singing
And ever dancing.
Ever singing, Tra! la! la!
Ever dancing, Tra! la! la!
Ever singing, ever dancing,
Ever singing, Tra! la! la!
He skipped for joy like little muttons,
He danced like Esmeralda's kid.
(She did not mean a boy in buttons,
Although he fancied that she did.)
Poor lad! convinced he thus would win her,
He wore out many pairs of soles;
He danced when taking down the dinner -
He danced when bringing up the coals.
He danced and sang (however laden)
With his incessant "Tra! la! la!"
Which much surprised the noble maiden,
And puzzled even her Papa.
He nourished now his flame and fanned it,
He even danced at work below.
The upper servants wouldn't stand it,
And BOWLES the butler told him so.
At length on impulse acting blindly,
His love he laid completely bare;
The gentle Earl received him kindly
And told the lad to take a chair.
"Oh, sir," the suitor uttered sadly,
"Don't give your indignation vent;
I fear you think I'm acting madly,
Perhaps you think me insolent?"
The kindly Earl repelled the notion;
His noble bosom heaved a sigh,
His fingers trembled with emotion,
A tear stood in his mild blue eye:
For, oh! the scene recalled too plainly
The half-forgotten time when he,
A boy of nine, had worshipped vainly
A governess of forty-three!
"My boy," he said, in tone consoling,
"Give up this idle fancy - do -
The song you heard my daughter trolling
Did not, indeed, refer to you.
"I feel for you, poor boy, acutely;
I would not wish to give you pain;
Your pangs I estimate minutely, -
I, too, have loved, and loved in vain.
"But still your humble rank and station
For MINNIE surely are not meet" -
He said much more in conversation
Which it were needless to repeat.
Now I'm prepared to bet a guinea,
Were this a mere dramatic case,
The page would have eloped with MINNIE,
But, no - he only left his place.
The simple Truth is my detective,
With me Sensation can't abide;
The Likely beats the mere Effective,
And Nature is my only guide.
Scheme | abab cdcd cece dcxc fgag chca cici jkjk lmlm fnon pqpq ppppppRrpR doxo cscs trtm uvuv awaw axax thth aaaa pxpx ayay tztz a1 a1 2 3 2 3 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101110 11010111 110111110 1010101 111110 0101011 11011010 111001001 110111010 010100101 011100110 01110101 0111011 11011100 110101010 11010100 111111010 1101111 11111 01110101 110111010 11010101 111101010 01011100 110101010 01000101 111001110 11110111 111111110 111100101 111101010 11010101 010101011 11111010 01101111 0110 010101110 01010101 11000100 1100101 0101001010 11010101 110110010 11111101 110111010 11001110 11010 111 01010 01010 1010111 1010111 10101010 1010111 11111101 11111 111101010 1110111 110111110 11110111 111101010 11110101 11011010 11010111 110101010 01010010 110111011 11011101 010101011 01010111 111101010 11110101 010101110 01011101 110101010 1110101 111111010 01111100 010101010 11010101 110101010 01101111 110101110 01010111 011111010 01001101 111101010 11110101 011111010 11010111 111111010 11111111 111100100 11110101 111101010 11010111 11110010 11010101 110111010 01010101 01111110 11110111 010111010 11010101 010101010 01011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,478 |
Words | 650 |
Sentences | 43 |
Stanzas | 25 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 10, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 106 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 110 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:16 min read
- 92 Views
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"Little Oliver" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41245/little-oliver>.
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