Analysis of The Sugar-Plum Tree
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'T is a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day.
When you 've got to the tree, you would have a hard time
To capture the fruit which I sing;
The tree is so tall that no person could climb
To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!
But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,
And a gingerbread dog prowls below---
And this is the way you contrive to get at
Those sugar-plums tempting you so:
You say but the word to that gingerbread dog
And he barks with such terrible zest
That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,
As her swelling proportions attest.
And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around
From this leafy limb unto that,
And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground---
Hurrah for that chocolate cat!
There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,
With stripings of scarlet or gold,
And you carry away of the treasure that rains
As much as your apron can hold!
So come, little child, cuddle closer to me
In your dainty white nightcap and gown,
And I 'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.
Scheme | abaBcdcdefefghghijkjlglgmnmnabaB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101101011 110101101 1110110101 00101111 011111111 11111011 11101011011 111111011 1111101111011 11001111 01111111011 101101011 1101110101 00101101 01101101111 11011011 1110111101 011111001 10101111101 101001001 00101101001 11101101 001011011101 0111101 111010101 1111011 011001101011 11111011 11101101011 01101101 0111101111011 00101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,287 |
Words | 248 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 32 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,020 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 246 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 130 Views
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"The Sugar-Plum Tree" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13099/the-sugar-plum-tree>.
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