Analysis of The Royal Review
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
All hail to the Empress of India, Great Britain's Queen--
Long may she live in health, happy and serene--
That came from London, far away,
To review the Scottish Volunteers in grand array:
Most magnificent to be seen,
Near by Salisbury Crags and its pastures green,
Which will long be remembered by our gracious Queen--
And by the Volunteers, that came from far away,
Because it rain'd most of the day.
And with the rain their clothes were wet all through,
On the 25th day of August, at the Royal Review.
And to the Volunteers it was no lark,
Because they were ankle deep in mud in the Queen's Park,
Which proved to the Queen they were loyal and true,
To ensure such hardships at the Royal Review.
Oh! it was a most beautiful scene
To see the Forfarshire Artillery matching past the Queen:
Her Majesty with their steady marching felt content,
Especially when their arms to her they did present.
And the Inverness Highland Volunteers seemed verygran',
And marched by steady to a man
Amongst the mud without dismay,
And the rain pouring down on them all the way.
And the bands they did play, God Save the Queen,
Near by Holyrood Palace and the Queen's Park so green.
Success to our noble Scottish Volunteers!
I hope they will be spared for many long years,
And to Her Majesty always prove loyal and true,
As they have done for the second time at the Royal Review.
To take them in general, they behaved very well,
The more that the rain fell on them pell-mell.
They marched by Her Majesty in very grand array,
Which will be remembered for many a long day,
Bidding defiance to wind and rain,
Which adds the more fame to their name.
And I hope none of them will have cause to rue
The day that they went to the Royal Review.
And I'm sure Her Majesty ought to feel proud,
And in her praise she cannot speak too loud,
Because the more that it did rain they did not mourn,
Which caused Her Majesty's heart with joy to burn,
Because she knew they were loyal and true
For enduring such hardships at the Royal Review.
Scheme | AABBAAA BBCCDDCC AAXX AXBBAA EECC FFBBXX CCGGXXCC |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101011001101 11110110001 11110101 11010010101 10100111 11100101101 1111010110101 01001111101 01111101 0101110111 1011111010101 010011111 0110101010011 11101101001 10111010101 111011001 1101010010101 0100111010110 010111101110 0010100111 01110101 01010101 00110111101 0011111101 11110001111 01110101001 11111111011 010100111001 11111010110101 1110100101101 0110111111 1110100010101 111010110011 100101101 11011111 01111111111 0111110101 01101001111 0001110111 010111111111 11010011111 0111101001 101011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,977 |
Words | 373 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 8, 4, 6, 4, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 43 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 225 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 1:53 min read
- 29 Views
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"The Royal Review" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41936/the-royal-review>.
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