Analysis of The Reaper's Child
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
If you go to the field where the reapers now bind
The sheaves of ripe corn, there a fine little lass,
Only three months of age, by the hedge-row you'll find,
Left alone by its mother upon the low grass.
While the mother is reaping, the infant is sleeping;
Not the basket that holds the provision is less
By the hard-working reaper, than this little sleeper,
Regarded, till hunger does on the babe press.
Then it opens its eyes, and it utters loud cries,
Which its hard-working mother afar off will hear;
She comes at its calling, she quiets its squalling,
And feeds it, and leaves it again without fear.
When you were as young as this field-nursëd daughter,
You were fed in the house, and brought up on the knee;
So tenderly watched, thy fond mother thought her
Whole time well bestowed in nursing of thee.
Scheme | ABAB CDED XXCX EFEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 11110110111 01111101101 101111101111 101111001011 1010110010110 101011001011 1011010111010 01011011011 111011011011 111101001111 11111011011 01101101011 110111111110 101001011101 11001111010 1110101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 800 |
Words | 149 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 158 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 139 Views
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"The Reaper's Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5409/the-reaper%27s-child>.
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