Analysis of A Tale of the Sea
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
A pathetic tale of the sea I will unfold,
Enough to make one's blood run cold;
Concerning four fishermen cast adrift in a dory.
As I've been told I'll relate the story.
T'was on the 8th April on the afternoon of that day
That the village of Louisburg was thrown into a wild state or dismay,
And the villagers flew to the beach in a state of wild uproar
And in a dory they found four men were cast ashore.
Then the villagers, in surprise assembled about the dory,
And they found that the bottom of the boat was gory;
Then their hearts were seized with sudden dread,
when they discovered that two of the men were dead.
And the two survivors were exhausted from exposure, hunger, and cold,
Which used the spectators to shudder when them they did behold;
And with hunger the poor men couldn't stand on their feet,
They felt so weakly on their legs for want of meat.
They were carried to a boarding-house without delay,
But those that were looking on were stricken with dismay,
When the remains of James and Angus McDonald were found in the boat,
Likewise three pieces or flesh in a pool or blood afloat.
Angus McDonald's right arm was missing from the elbow,
and the throat was cut in a sickening manner which filled the villagers hearts with woe,
Especially when they saw two pieces of flesh had been cut from each thigh,
'Twas then the kind-hearted villagers did murmur and sigh.
Angus McDonald must have felt the pangs of hunger before he did try
to cut two pieces of fiesh from James McDonald's thigh,
But, Oh heaven! the pangs of hunger are very hard to thole,
And anything that's eatable is precious unto an hungry soul.
Alas it is most pitiful and horrible to think
That with hunger christians will each other's blood drink
And eat each other's flesh to save themselves from starvation;
But the pangs or hunger makes them mad, and drives them to desperation.
An old American soldier that had passed through the Civil War,
Declared the scene surpassed anything he's seen by far,
And at the sight, the crowd in horror turned away,
which no doubt they will remember for many a day.
Colin Chisholm, one of the survivors was looking very pale,
Stretched on a sofa at the boarding-house, making his wail:
Poor fellow! his feet was greatly swollen, and with a melancholy air,
He gave the following account of the distressing affair:
We belonged to the American fishing schooner named "Cicely",
And our captain was a brave man, called McKenzie;
And the vessel had fourteen hands altogether
And during the passage we had favourable weather.
'Twas on March the 17th we sailed from Gloucester on the Wednesday
And all our hearts felt buoyant and gay;
And we arrived on the Western banks on the succeeding Tuesday,
While the time unto us seemed to pass merrily away.
About eight O'clock in the morning, we left the vessel in a dory,
And I hope all kind christians will take heed to my story;
Well, while we were at our work, the sky began to frown,
And with a dense fog we were suddenly shut down
Then we hunted and shouted, and every nerve did strain,
Thinking to find our schooner but, alas! it was all in vain:
Because the thick fog hid the vessel from our view,
And to keep ourselves warm we closely to each other drew.
We had not one drop of water , nor provisions of any kind,
Which, alas soon began to tell on our mind;
Especially upon James McDonald who was very thinly clad,
And with the cold and hunger he felt almost mad.
And looking from the stern where he was lying,
he said Good bye, mates, Oh! I am dying!
Poor fellow we kept his body thinking the rest of us would be saved,
Then, with hunger, Angus McDonald began to cry and madly raved.
And he cried, Oh, God! send us some kind of meat,
Because I'm resolved to have something to eat;
Oh! do not let us starve on the briny flood
Or else I will drink of poor Jim's blood.
Then he suddenly seized his knife and cut off poor Jim's arm,
Not thinking in his madness he'd done any harm;
Then poor Jim's blood he did drink and his flesh did eat,
Declaring that the blood tasted like cream, and was a treat.
Then he asked me to taste it, saying It was good without doubt,
Then I tasted it, but in disgust I instantly spat it out;
Saying, if I was to die within an hour on the briny flood,
I would neither eat the flesh nor drink the blood.
Then in the afternoon again he turned to me,
Saying, I'm going to cut Jim's throat for more blood d'ye see;
Then I begged of him, for God's sake not to cut the throat of poor Jim,
Scheme | AABBCC DDBBEE AAFF CCGG HHII IIJJ KKLL DXCC MMNN BBOO BCBC BBPP QQRR SSTT UUVV FFWW XXFF YYWW BBX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 001011011101 01111111 01011001010010 1111101010 111011101001111 1010111101011101 001001101001111 0001011110101 1010000101001010 0111010101110 111011101 110101110101 001010001010101001 110100110111101 0110011101111 111101111111 1010101010101 1110101010101 10011101001001001 1110110011101 1001011110101 001110010010110100111 01011111011111111 11011010011001 100101110111001111 1111011110101 111001110110111 0101100110101101 01111100010011 111010111011 01110111011010 1011101110111010 1101001011110101 010101101111 010101010101 1111101011001 1010110010110101 11010101011011 11011110100101001 110100011001001 10110010010101100 0101010111010 00101111010 01001011110 111011111101010 0110111001 0101101011001010 10110111110001 011010010110100010 01111101111110 11101101010111 010111010011 11100100100111 1011101010111101 0101110101101 011001111011101 1111111010101101 101101111101 0100110101110101 01010101111 01010111110 1111111110 11011110100111111 11101001001110101 01111111111 01101111011 1111111011 111111111 11100111011111 110011011101 111111101111 01010110110101 111111110111011 1110110011100111 1011111011101011 11101011101 10001011111 101101111111111 1111111111101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 4,408 |
Words | 833 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 19 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 |
Lines Amount | 79 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 184 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 4:16 min read
- 131 Views
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