Analysis of Limerick:There was an Old Man of the Cape

Edward Lear 1812 (Holloway) – 1888 (Sanremo)



There was an Old Man of the Cape,
Who possessed a large Barbary ape,
Till the ape one dark night
Set the house all alight,
Which burned that Old Man of the Cape.


Scheme AABBA
Poetic Form Limerick 
Metre 11111101 101011001 101111 101101 11111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 165
Words 35
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 5
Lines Amount 5
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 125
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

10 sec read
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Edward Lear

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author and poet, and is known now mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. more…

All Edward Lear poems | Edward Lear Books

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