Analysis of PH. Best & Co.'s Lager-Beer
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
In every part of the thrifty town,
Whether my course be up or down,
In lane, and alley, and avenue,
Painted in yellow, and red, and blue,
This side and that, east and west,
Was this flaunting sign-board of 'Ph. Best.'
'Twas hung high up, and swung in the air
With a swaggering, bold-faced, 'devil-may-care-
It-is-none-of-your-business' sort of way;
Or, as if dreading the light o' the day,
It hung low, over a basement-stair,
And seemed ashamed when you saw it there.
Or it shone like a wicked and evil eye
From a 'restaurant' door on passers-by,
And seemed with a twinkling wink to say:
'Are you bound for hell? Then step this way;
This is the ticket-office of sin;
If you think of purchasing, pray, walk in.'
Or it glared from a window where the light
Of the lamps within shone full and bright,
And seemed to be saying, 'Come out of the storm!
Come into my haven snug and warm;
I will give you warmth from the flowing bowl,
And all I ask is your purse and soul.'
But whether on window, door, or stair,
Wherever I went, it was always there;
Painted in yellow, and red, and blue,
It stared from alley and avenue:
It was north, and south, and east, and west,
The lager-beer of this Philip Best.
And who was Philip Best, you ask?
Oh! he was a man, whose noble task
Was the brewing of beer-good beer, first-class-
That should sparkle, and bubble, and boil in the glass:
Should sparkle and flow till drank, and then
Feast like a vampire on brains of men.
Ah! Philip Best, you have passed from view,
But your name and your works live after you.
Come, brothers, raise him a monument,
Inscribed, 'Here lies the man who sent
A million of souls to the depths of hell;
Turned genius and worth to the prison-cell;
Stole bread from the mouth of the hungry child:
Made the father a brute, and the mother wild;
Filled happy homes with dread unrest:
Oh! a very great man was Philip Best.
O Ph. Best! you have passed from view,
But your nameand your deeds live after you.'
Scheme | aabBcc ddeedd ffeegg hhiijj ddBbcc kkllmm bbxxnn ooccbb |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0100110101 10111111 01010010 100100101 1101101 1110111111 111101001 10100111011 1111110111 1111001101 111100101 010111111 11110100101 101011101 0110100111 111111111 110101011 1111100110 1111010101 101011101 01111011101 101110101 1111110101 011111101 110110111 010111111 100100101 11110010 111010101 010111101 01110111 111011101 1010111111 111001001001 110011101 110101111 110111111 1110111101 110110100 01110111 0101110111 1100110101 1110110101 10100100101 11011101 1010111101 111111111 111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,917 |
Words | 370 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 185 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:49 min read
- 91 Views
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"PH. Best & Co.'s Lager-Beer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10758/ph.-best-%26-co.%27s-lager-beer>.
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