Analysis of Mandolin Player



How could the Mandolin player be so well composed?
How does she climb the scale so well? How can she be exposed

to rough and noisy merriment, while still she plays pell-mell?
Amidst those wise men’s arguments; discordant as a bell

their raucous, rowdy sound, so shrill. It fills St. Patrick's Inn.
She picks a jig and strums the rest. She hears the notes within.

No time her smiling fades; no time the music thins.
She goes full bore, til’ hands are sore with blisters on her skin.

She quits no music here; imbibes the barman’s offered beer;
She strums her husky tune and swills the frothy brew with cheer.

Well-past the midnight hour; past morning’s dawn and dew
she fin’ly lays her Mando’ down, picks up the morning’s brew.

She stands to stretch and find her feet, then smiles a gleeful grin,
hands back the cup the barman gave, takes up her Mandolin.

She nods and strolls right out the door. The night has been sure-slain.
There’ll be no more raucous tunes ‘til evening comes again.

Rhyming Couplets
a ballad


Scheme AA BB CC DC EE FF CC XX DX
Poetic Form
Metre 110101011101 11110111111101 110101111111 01111100010101 11010111111101 11010101110101 110101110101 11111111110101 111101101101 11010101010111 110110110101 111011110101 11110101110101 1101010111010 11011101011111 1111101110101 101 010
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,056
Words 206
Sentences 17
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 44
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 88
Words per stanza (avg) 20

About this poem

I played a Mandolin for several years and thought it would be fun to play all night in an Irish Pub sometime. This is a 'tall tale' about me doing just that.

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Written on March 24, 2020

Submitted by AnnetteG on March 10, 2024

1:02 min read
44

Annette Jane Gagliardi

Annette Gagliardi has poems in over 40 anthologies, in online and in-print magazines in the US, Canada and the UK. You can follow her on https://www.buymeacoffee.com/annette.g more…

All Annette Jane Gagliardi poems | Annette Jane Gagliardi Books

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