Analysis of Twins, The
Henry S Leigh 1837 (London) – 1883 (Brompton cemetery )
In form and feature, face and limb,
I grew so like my brother,
That folks got taking me for him,
And each for one another.
It puzzled all our kith and kin,
It reach'd an awful pitch;
For one of us was born a twin,
Yet not a soul knew which.
One day (to make the matter worse),
Before our names were fix'd,
As we were being wash'd by nurse
We got completely mix'd;
And thus, you see, by Fate's decree,
(Or rather nurse's whim),
My brother John got christen'd me,
And I got christen'd him.
This fatal likeness even dogg'd
My footsteps when at school,
And I was always getting flogg'd,
For John turned out a fool.
I put this question hopelessly
To every one I knew,
What would you do, if you were me,
To prove that you were you?
Our close resemblance turn'd the tide
Of my domestic life;
For somehow my intended bride
Became my brother's wife.
In short, year after year the same
Absurd mistakes went on;
And when I died, the neighbors came
And buried brother John!
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGAGA XHFHGIGI JKJKLMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010101 1111110 11110111 0111010 110110101 111101 11111101 110111 11110101 0110101 11010111 110101 01111101 110101 11011101 011101 11010101 11111 0111101 111101 11110100 1100111 11111101 111101 101010101 110101 1110101 011101 01110101 010111 01110101 010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 939 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 79 Views
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"Twins, The" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55596/twins%2C-the>.
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