Analysis of The Publican’s Parrot
Neil McLeod 1947 (Oxford)
The Publican's Parrot
A lament for an African Grey
“Never spoil a good tale for the sake of the truth,”
My grandfather often would say,
“For a message is better delivered in style.”
He would add in his West Highland way.
The City of Oxford is famous,
For its colleges, courses and bars
And mist that hides spires, its chapels and towers,
Its conflicts, its intrigues and cars.
There's a pub off Blue Boar Lane in Oxford
For hundreds of years its been there,
With a famed collection of collegiate ties,
And it goes by the name of The Bear.
A publican there known as Charlie,
With a penchant for fine rolled Havanas,
Had a bird in cage that perched on parade,
With unusual and interesting manners.
The patrons were frequently greeted
As they stooped down to enter the bar
With a call from the bird in the cage by the door
Who would boldly cry “Have a cigar.”
And that wasn't all it would utter,
Its whistle was incredibly loud,
On first encounter it'd take one aback,
But the bird made the publican proud.
That African Grey was a talker,
It would sidle to the end of the perch,
c*ck his head to the side and in gravely voice
Its master's good name besmirch.
Some regulars had obviously coached it
It copied their verse to a “T”
In a subversive almost whispered tone
It repeated the words perfectly.
Clearly not all of the drinkers
Shared the publican's view of his bird,
And in crowded conditions and a furtive voice
“Bugger Charlie” was what could be heard.
Then all within ear shot erupted,
Guffaws like the smoke filled the room,
And those in the know would smirk and say
“You're a cheeky bird, you'll get it soon!”
One night a whistle-stunned patron
Took umbrage and pondered upon,
How to fix the bird in his wire safe haven
In short, he wanted it gone.
He brooded and plotted his stratagem,
When a couple of jars had been drained,
He snatched up the cage and departed away
The empty stand only remained.
He must have high tailed down Merton Street,
Over the cobbles to the High,
Then making to cross over Magdalen Bridge
Where he tossed the cage into the sky.
It splashed as it fell in the Cherwell,
By the punts tethered row upon row,
The bird squawked and sang it's very last song
And sank in the water below.
Scheme | XA XABA CDED FGXG HCXE XIXI JKXK JLML XHXH EFMF XXAX NXNX XOAO XPXP BQXQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0110 001111001 101011101101 1101011 101011001001 111011101 010110110 111001001 0111111010 10110101 1011111010 11011111 10101010101 011101101 0111110 10101111 1010111101 1010010010 010010010 111111001 101101001101 111011001 011011110 110101001 11010101101 1011011 110011010 1110101101 111110100101 110111 11001100011 11011101 000101101 101001100 10111010 1011111 001001000101 101011111 11011110 01101101 010011101 101011111 11010110 11001001 111010110110 0111011 1100101100 101011111 11101001001 01011001 111111101 1001101 11011101001 111010101 11111001 101101011 0110111011 01001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,181 |
Words | 413 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 58 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 116 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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"The Publican’s Parrot" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/87641/the-publican%E2%80%99s-parrot>.
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