Analysis of The Brewer's Dog
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
The brewer's dog is abroad, boys,
Be careful where you stray,
His teeth are coated with poison,
And he's on the watch for prey.
The brewery is his kennel,
But he lurks on every hand,
And he seeks for easy victims
The children of the land.
His eyes gleam through the windows
Of the gay saloon at night,
And in many a first-class 'drug-store'
He is hiding out of sight.
Be careful where you enter,
And, if you smell his breath,
Flee as you would from a viper,
For its fumes are the fumes of death.
O boys! would you kill the bloodhound?
Would you slay the snarling whelp?
I know that you can do it
If every one will help.
You must make a solemn promise
To drink no ale or beer,
And soon the feeble death-wail
Of the brewer's dog we'll hear.
For, if all keep the promise,
You can starve him out, I know;
But, if boys and men keep drinking,
The dog will thrive and grow.
Scheme | XAXAXBXB XCXCDEDE XFXFGXXXGHXH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011011 110111 11110110 0110111 01001110 11111001 01111010 010101 1111010 1010111 001001111 1110111 1101110 011111 11111010 11110111 11111010 1110101 1111111 1100111 11101010 111111 0101011 1010111 1111010 1111111 11101110 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 847 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 12 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 220 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 65 Views
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