Analysis of Peek-A-Boo
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
The cunningest thing that a baby can do
Is the very first time it plays peek-a-boo;
When it hides its pink little face in its hands,
And crows, and shows that it understands
What nurse, and mamma and papa, too,
Mean when they hide and cry, 'Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.'
Oh, what a wonderful thing it is,
When they find that baby can play like this;
And everyone listens, and thinks it true
That baby's gurgle means 'Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo';
And over and over the changes are rung
On the marvelous infant who talks so young.
I wonder if any one ever knew
A baby that never played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.
'Tis old as the hills are. I believe
Cain was taught it by Mother Eve;
For Cain was an innocent baby, too,
And I am sure he played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.
And the whole world full of the children of men,
Have all of them played that game since then.
Kings and princes and beggars, too,
Everyone has played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.
Thief and robber and ruffian bold,
The crazy tramp and the drunkard old,
All have been babies who laughed and knew
How to hide, and play peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.
Scheme | AA BB AA XX AA CC AA DD AA EE AA FF AA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Couplet |
Metre | 011101011 10101111101 11111101011 01011101 110100101 111101101101 110100111 1111101111 010100111 110101101101 01001001011 10100101111 1101101101 0101101101101 111011101 11111101 1111100101 011111101101 00111101011 111111111 10100101 1011101101 1010011 010100101 111101101 11101101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,072 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 64 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 15 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 05, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 91 Views
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"Peek-A-Boo" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10754/peek-a-boo>.
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