Analysis of The Challenge: A Court Ballad
Alexander Pope 1688 (London) – 1744 (Twickenham)
I.
To one fair lady out of Court,
And two fair ladies in,
Who think the Turk and Pope a sport,
And wit and love no sin!
Come, these soft lines, with nothing stiff in,
To Bellenden, Lepell, and Griffin.
With a fa, la, la.
What passes in the dark third row,
And what behind the scene,
Couches and crippled chairs I know,
And garrets hung with green;
I know the swing of sinful hack,
Where many damsels cry alack.
With a fa, la, la.
III.
Then why to Courts should I repair,
Where's such ado with Townsend?
To hear each mortal stamp and swear,
And every speech with 'Zounds' end;
To hear them rail at honest Sunderland,
And rashly blame the realm of Blunderland.
With a fa, la, la.
IV.
Alas! like Schutz I cannot pun,
Like Grafton court the Germans;
Tell Pickenbourg how slim she's grown,
Like Meadows run to sermons;
To court ambitious men may roam,
But I and Marlbro' stay at home.
With a fa, la, la.
V.
In truth, by what I can discern,
Of courtiers, 'twixt you three,
Some wit you have, and more may learn
From Court, than Gay or Me:
Perhaps, in time, you'll leave high diet,
To sup with us on milk and quiet.
With a fa, la, la.
VI.
At Leicester Fields, a house full nigh,
With door all painted green,
(A Milliner, I mean);
There may you meet us three to three,
For Gay can well make two of Me.
With a fa, la, la.
VII.
But should you catch the prudish itch,
And each become a coward,
Bring sometimes with you lady Rich,
And sometimes mistress Howard;
For virgins, to keep chaste, must go
Abroad with such as are not so.
With a fa, la, la.
VIII.
And thus, fair maids, my ballad ends;
God send the king safe landing;
And make all honest ladies friends
To armies that are standing;
Preserve the limits of those nations,
And take off ladies' limitations.
With a fa, la, la.
Scheme | abcbcccD efefggD ahihxibD jxkxkllD jmnmnooD aaffnnD jpqpqeeD jrsrskkD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 11110111 011100 11010101 010111 111111010 111010 10111 11000111 010101 10010111 010111 11011101 110111 10111 1 11111101 1101110 11110101 01001111 1111110100 0110111 10111 1 01111101 1101010 111111 111110 11010111 1101111 10111 1 01111101 1100111 11110111 111111 010111110 111111010 10111 1 11010111 111101 010011 11111111 11111111 10111 1 11110101 0101010 10111101 0011010 11011111 01111111 10111 1 01111101 1101110 01110101 1101110 010101110 01110010 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,725 |
Words | 342 |
Sentences | 28 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 7, 8, 8, 8, 7, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 166 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 82 Views
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"The Challenge: A Court Ballad" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/500/the-challenge%3A-a-court-ballad>.
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