The Sheep
Ellis Parker Butler 1869 (Muscatine) – 1937 (Williamsville)
The Sheep adorns the landscape rural
And is both singular and plural—
It gives grammarians the creeps
To hear one say, 'A flock of sheeps.'
The Sheep is gentle, meek and mild,
And led in herds by man or child—
Being less savage than the rabbit,
Sheep are gregarious by habit.
The Sheep grows wool and thus promotes
The making of vests, pants and coats—
Vests, pants and coats and woolen cloths
Provide good food for hungry moths.
With vegetables added to
The Sheep, we get our mutton stew—
Experiments long since revealed
The Sheep should first be killed and peeled.
Thus, with our debt to them so deep,
All men should cry 'Praise be for Sheep!'—
And, if we happen to be shepherds,
'Praise be they’re not as fierce as leopards!'
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 127 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 729 |
Words | 137 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Sheep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/11076/the-sheep>.
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