Analysis of The Ghost, the Gallant, the Gael, and the Goblin
O'er unreclaimed suburban clays
Some years ago were hobblin'
An elderly ghost of easy ways,
And an influential goblin.
The ghost was a sombre spectral shape,
A fine old five-act fogy,
The goblin imp, a lithe young ape,
A fine low-comedy bogy.
And as they exercised their joints,
Promoting quick digestion,
They talked on several curious points,
And raised this delicate question:
"Which of us two is Number One -
The ghostie, or the goblin?"
And o'er the point they raised in fun
They fairly fell a-squabblin'.
They'd barely speak, and each, in fine,
Grew more and more reflective:
Each thought his own particular line
By chalks the more effective.
At length they settled some one should
By each of them be haunted,
And so arrange that either could
Exert his prowess vaunted.
"The Quaint against the Statuesque" -
By competition lawful -
The goblin backed the Quaint Grotesque,
The ghost the Grandly Awful.
"Now," said the goblin, "here's my plan -
In attitude commanding,
I see a stalwart Englishman
By yonder tailor's standing.
"The very fittest man on earth
My influence to try on -
Of gentle, p'r'aps of noble birth,
And dauntless as a lion!
Now wrap yourself within your shroud -
Remain in easy hearing -
Observe - you'll hear him scream aloud
When I begin appearing!
The imp with yell unearthly - wild -
Threw off his dark enclosure:
His dauntless victim looked and smiled
With singular composure.
For hours he tried to daunt the youth,
For days, indeed, but vainly -
The stripling smiled! - to tell the truth,
The stripling smiled inanely.
For weeks the goblin weird and wild,
That noble stripling haunted;
For weeks the stripling stood and smiled,
Unmoved and all undaunted.
The sombre ghost exclaimed, "Your plan
Has failed you, goblin, plainly:
Now watch yon hardy Hieland man,
So stalwart and ungainly.
"These are the men who chase the roe,
Whose footsteps never falter,
Who bring with them, where'er they go,
A smack of old SIR WALTER.
Of such as he, the men sublime
Who lead their troops victorious,
Whose deeds go down to after-time,
Enshrined in annals glorious!
"Of such as he the bard has said
'Hech thrawfu' raltie rorkie!
Wi' thecht ta' croonie clapperhead
And fash' wi' unco pawkie!'
He'll faint away when I appear,
Upon his native heather;
Or p'r'aps he'll only scream with fear,
Or p'r'aps the two together."
The spectre showed himself, alone,
To do his ghostly battling,
With curdling groan and dismal moan,
And lots of chains a-rattling!
But no - the chiel's stout Gaelic stuff
Withstood all ghostly harrying;
His fingers closed upon the snuff
Which upwards he was carrying.
For days that ghost declined to stir,
A foggy shapeless giant -
For weeks that splendid officer
Stared back again defiant.
Just as the Englishman returned
The goblin's vulgar staring,
Just so the Scotchman boldly spurned
The ghost's unmannered scaring.
For several years the ghostly twain
These Britons bold have haunted,
But all their efforts are in vain -
Their victims stand undaunted.
This very day the imp, and ghost,
Whose powers the imp derided,
Stand each at his allotted post -
The bet is undecided.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EBEBBBBB BFBFGHGI JKJKBLBL MBMBNLNL OPOPQDQK OHOIBDBD RPRPSTST XJGJUPUP BLBLVJVL PWPWXLXL BHBIYIYI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 110101 110011101 0101010 0110111 0111110 01010111 0111001 0111011 0101010 111101001 01110010 11111101 011010 010011101 110101 11010101 1101010 111101001 1101010 11110111 1111110 01011101 0111010 0101001 101010 01010101 0101010 11010111 010010 11010100 110110 01010111 1100111 11011101 011010 11010111 0101010 01111101 1101010 01110101 1111010 1110101 1100010 110111101 1101110 01011101 01011 11010101 1101010 11010101 0101010 0110111 1111010 1111011 1100010 11011101 111010 11111011 0111110 11110101 11110100 11111101 01010100 11110111 1111 11111 01111 11011101 0111010 11110111 1101010 01010101 11110100 1110101 0111010 11011101 011101 11010101 11011100 11110111 0101010 11110100 1101010 11010001 011010 1101101 01110 11010101 1101110 11110101 1101010 11010101 11001010 11110101 011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,020 |
Words | 538 |
Sentences | 27 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 96 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 203 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:45 min read
- 85 Views
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"The Ghost, the Gallant, the Gael, and the Goblin" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41296/the-ghost%2C-the-gallant%2C-the-gael%2C-and-the-goblin>.
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