Analysis of Old Town Types No. 29 - Miss Trapp, The Music Teacher
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
'One-and-two-and-three-and-four
You're playing it by ear, boy! Eyes upon the score!'
Miss Trapp, the music teacher, very prim and staid,
English and respectable, the town's old maid,
Sitting in her 'front room,' elderly and stern,
While a grubby urchin struggles with the notes he'll never learn.
'One-and-two-and-one-and-two
You're playing it at random! This will nevah, nevah do!'
No one knew her history or why she settled down
To 'Singing and Pianoforte' in our old town;
With her soft voice and grey dress, the folk called her 'The Dove;'
And the story somehow got about that she'd been 'crossed in love.'
And so, her fancied tragedy clothed her in vague romance
'So well-connected, too, my dear. You'd see that that a glance'
With her 'One-and-two-and - Oh, you stupid child!'
And the rap upon the knuckles was both lady-like and mild.
She sang at local concerts in a cultured voice and thin,
And the back seats applauded her with many a covert grin:
'Her voice is gettin' rusty; but the ole girl does her best.'
But the front seats said, 'Beautiful! How training stands the test!'
Yet all combined, in kindliness with varied tact displayed,
To make the path no thornier for our old maid,
Whose spinsterhood was quite an institution in the town,
With her 'One-and-two-and ...' And then she let us down.
For years she'd dwelt among us - our one 'lady,' prim and pure.
In her neat dove-grey dress, and manner most demure,
A regular museum piece, who knew just what was 'done.'
And then an English 'toff' came up to say to Connor's run.
Rich, it was said, and elderly; and, to the town's dismay,
He took and married our old-maid and hastened her away,
With her 'One-and-two-and ...' Of culture now bereft,
The town's 'tone' departed when our music teacher left.
Scheme | AABBCCDD EEFFGGHH IIJJBBEE KKLLMMNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 110111110101 110101010101 10001000111 10001110001 101010101011101 1010101 110111011111 1110100111101 1100101011 1011011011001 00101101111101 01010100100101 11010111111101 10101011101 001010101110101 11110100010101 001101001100101 0111101011101 10111100110101 110101110101 11011111011 11111010001 101010011111 111101110110101 001111010101 01000101111111 0111011111111 11110100010101 110101011010001 101010110101 01101011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,755 |
Words | 317 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 333 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 78 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 124 Views
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"Old Town Types No. 29 - Miss Trapp, The Music Teacher" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6492/old-town-types-no.-29---miss-trapp%2C-the-music-teacher>.
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