Analysis of The Relief of Mafeking
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
Success to Colonel Baden-Powell and his praises loudly sing,
For being so brave in relieving Mafeking,
With his gallant little band of eight hundred men,
They made the Boers fly from Mafeking like sheep escaping from a pen.
'Twas in the year of 1900 and on the 18th of May,
That Colonel Baden-Powell beat the Boers without dismay,
And made them fly from Mafeking without delay,
Which will be handed down to posterity for many a day.
Colonel Baden-Powell is a very brave man,
And to deny it, I venture to say, few men can;
He is a noble hero be it said,
For at the siege of Mafeking he never was afraid.
And during the siege Colonel Baden was cheerful and gay,
While the starving population were living on brawn each day;
And alas! the sufferings of the women and children were great,
But they all submitted patiently to their fate.
For seven months besieged they fought the Boers without dismay,
Until at last the Boers were glad to run away;
Because Baden-Powell's gallant band put them to flight
By cannon shot and volleys of musketry to the left and right.
Then long live Baden-Powell and his brave little band,
For during the siege of Mafeking they made a bold stand
Against yelling thousands of Boers who were thirsting for their blood,
But as firm as a rock against them they fearlessly stood.
Oh! think of them living on brawn extracted from horse hides,
While the inhuman Boers their sufferings deride,
Knowing that the women's hearts with grief were torn
As they looked on their children's faces that looked sad and forlorn.
For 217 days the Boers tried to obtain Mafeking's surrender,
But their strategy was futile owing to its noble defender,
Colonel Baden-Powell, that hero of renown,
Who, by his masterly generalship, saved the town.
Methinks I see him and his gallant band,
Looking terror to the foe: Oh! The sight was really grand,
As he cried, "Give it them, lads; let's do or die;
And from Mafeking we'll soon make them fly,
And we'll make them rue their rash undertaking
The day they laid siege to the town of Mafeking."
Long life and prosperity to Colonel Baden-Powell,
For there's very few generals can him excel;
And he is now the Hero of Mafeking, be it told,
And his name should be engraved on medals of gold.
I wish him and his gallant little band every success,
For relieving the people of Mafeking while in distress;
They made the Boers rue their rash undertaking
The day they laid siege to the town of Mafeking.
For during the defence of Mafeking
From grief he kept the people's hearts from breaking,
Because he sang to them and did recite
Passages from Shakespeare which did their hearts delight.
Scheme | aabb cccc ddxx ccee ccff ggxx xxhh iijj ggkkaA xxll mmaA aaff |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111010100110101 1101100101 111010111101 110111111010101 100110101111 11010101010101 0111110101 1111011010011001 101010101011 0101111011111 1101010111 110111110101 01001101011001 10100100101111 0010100101001001 111010100111 11010111010101 011101011101 0110101011111 11010101110101 1111010011101 110011111011 01101011101111 111101011111 11111011010111 100101110001 10101011101 111111010111001 110111011010 11100110101110010 101010110101 111100100101 111101101 10101011011101 11111111111 01111111 0111111100 0111110111 11001001101010 111011001101 011101011111 011110111011 111011010110001 1010010111001 1101111100 0111110111 11000111 11110101110 0111110101 10011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,594 |
Words | 470 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 174 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:23 min read
- 90 Views
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"The Relief of Mafeking" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41934/the-relief-of-mafeking>.
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