Analysis of The Periwinkle Girl
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
I've often thought that headstrong youths
Of decent education,
Determine all-important truths,
With strange precipitation.
The ever-ready victims they,
Of logical illusions,
And in a self-assertive way
They jump at strange conclusions.
Now take my case: Ere sorrow could
My ample forehead wrinkle,
I had determined that I should
Not care to be a winkle.
"A winkle," I would oft advance
With readiness provoking,
"Can seldom flirt, and never dance,
Or soothe his mind by smoking."
In short, I spurned the shelly joy,
And spoke with strange decision -
Men pointed to me as a boy
Who held them in derision.
But I was young - too young, by far -
Or I had been more wary,
I knew not then that winkles are
The stock-in-trade of MARY.
I had not watched her sunlight blithe
As o'er their shells it dances -
I've seen those winkles almost writhe
Beneath her beaming glances.
Of slighting all the winkly brood
I surely had been chary,
If I had known they formed the food
And stock-in-trade of MARY.
Both high and low and great and small
Fell prostrate at her tootsies,
They all were noblemen, and all
Had balances at COUTTS'S.
Dukes with the lovely maiden dealt,
DUKE BAILEY and DUKE HUMPHY,
Who ate her winkles till they felt
Exceedingly uncomfy.
DUKE BAILEY greatest wealth computes,
And sticks, they say, at no-thing,
He wears a pair of golden boots
And silver underclothing.
DUKE HUMPHY, as I understand,
Though mentally acuter,
His boots are only silver, and
His underclothing pewter.
A third adorer had the girl,
A man of lowly station -
A miserable grov'ling Earl
Besought her approbation.
This humble cad she did refuse
With much contempt and loathing,
He wore a pair of leather shoes
And cambric underclothing!
"Ha! ha!" she cried. "Upon my word!
Well, really - come, I never!
Oh, go along, it's too absurd!
My goodness! Did you ever?
"Two Dukes would Mary make a bride,
And from her foes defend her" -
"Well, not exactly that," they cried,
"We offer guilty splendour.
"We do not offer marriage rite,
So please dismiss the notion!"
"Oh dear," said she, "that alters quite
The state of my emotion."
The Earl he up and says, says he,
"Dismiss them to their orgies,
For I am game to marry thee
Quite reg'lar at St. George's."
(He'd had, it happily befell,
A decent education,
His views would have befitted well
A far superior station.)
His sterling worth had worked a cure,
She never heard him grumble;
She saw his soul was good and pure,
Although his rank was humble.
Her views of earldoms and their lot,
All underwent expansion -
Come, Virtue in an earldom's cot!
Go, Vice in ducal mansion!
Scheme | ABXB CDCD EFEF GHGH IBIB JKJK XLXX MKMK NANA OPOP QHQH XJXR SBSB THTH URUR VRVJ WBWB KXKL XBXB YFYF ZBZB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (90%) |
Metre | 1101111 110010 01010101 110010 01010101 1100010 00010101 1111010 11111101 1101010 11010111 1111010 01011101 1100010 11010101 1111110 01110101 0111010 11011101 1110010 11111111 1111110 11111101 0101110 1111011 11011110 1111011 0101010 1101011 1101110 11111101 0101110 11010101 110101 110101 110011 11010101 110011 11010111 01001 11010101 0111111 11011101 0101 111101 11001 11110100 1110 011101 0111010 0100011 10010 11011101 1101010 11011101 011 11110111 1101110 11011101 1101110 11110101 0101010 11010111 110101 11110101 1101010 11111101 0111010 01110111 0111110 11111101 1111110 11110001 010010 111111 01010010 11011101 1101110 11111101 111110 0111011 101010 1100111 1101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,516 |
Words | 468 |
Sentences | 32 |
Stanzas | 21 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 84 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 95 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 2:21 min read
- 99 Views
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"The Periwinkle Girl" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41317/the-periwinkle-girl>.
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