Analysis of The First Tooth
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
SISTER.
Through the house what busy joy,
Just because the infant boy
Has a tiny tooth to show.
I have got a double row,
All as white, and all as small;
Yet no one cares for mine at all.
He can say but half a word,
Yet that single sound's preferred
To all the words that I can say
In the longest summer day.
He cannot walk, yet if he put
With mimic motion out his foot,
As if he thought he were advancing,
It's prized more than my best dancing.
BROTHER.
Sister, I know, you jesting are,
Yet O! of jealousy beware.
If the smallest seed should be
In your mind of jealousy,
It will spring, and it will shoot,
Till it bear the baneful fruit.
I remember you, my dear,
Young as is this infant here.
There was not a tooth of those
Your pretty even ivory rows,
But as anxiously was watched,
Till it burst its shell new hatched,
As if it a Phoenix were,
Or some other wonder rare.
So when you began to walk-
So when you began to talk-
As now, the same encomiums past.
'Tis not fitting this should last
Longer than our infant days;
A child is fed with milk and praise.
Scheme | ABBCCDDEEFFGGHH AXIJJKKXXLLXXAIMMNNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10 1011101 1010101 1010111 1110101 1110111 11111111 1111101 1110101 11011111 0010101 11011111 11010111 111110010 11111110 10 1011111 11110001 1010111 0111100 1110111 111011 1010111 1111101 1110111 110101001 1110011 1111111 1110100 1110101 1110111 1110111 110111 1110111 10110101 01111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,030 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 15, 21 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 404 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 105 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 172 Views
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