Analysis of The Fairy Changeling
Dora Sigerson Shorter 1866 (Dublin) – 1918
Brian O'Byrne of Omah town
In his garden strode up and down;
He pulled his beard, and he beat his breast;
And this is his trouble and woe confessed
'The good-folk came in the night, and they
Have stolen my bonny wean away;
Have put in his place a changeling,
A weashy, weakly, wizen thing!
'From the speckled hen nine eggs I stole,
And lighting a fire of a glowing coal,
I fried the shells, and I spilt the yolk;
But never a word the stranger spoke.
'A bar of metal I heated red
To frighten the fairy from its bed,
To put in the place of this fretting wean
My own bright beautiful boy again.
'But my wife had hidden it in her arms,
And cried ‘For shame!’ on my fairy charms;
She sobs, with the strange child on her breast
‘I love the weak, wee babe the best!’'
To Brian O'Byrne's, the tale to hear,
The neighbours came from far and near
Outside his gate, in the long boreen,
They crossed themselves, and said between
Their muttered prayers, 'He has no luck!
For sure the woman is fairy-struck,
To leave her child a fairy guest,
And love the weak, wee wean the best!'
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEDDFFGXHHBBXXAG DDBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001111 01101101 111101111 0111100101 011100101 110110101 1101101 0110101 101011111 01001010101 110101101 110010101 011101101 110010111 1100111101 111100101 1111101001 011111101 111011101 11011101 11010111 0111101 11110011 11010101 11011111 110101101 11010101 01011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,055 |
Words | 210 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 24, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 407 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 103 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 45 Views
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