Analysis of The Daft Days

Hew Ainslie 1792 ( Dailly, Ayrshire) – 1878 (Louisville, Kentucky)



The midnight hour is clinking, lads,
An' the douce an' the decent are winking, lads;
Sae I tell ye again,
Be't weel or ill ta'en,
It's time ye were quatting your drinking, lads.
Gae ben, 'an mind your gauntry, Kate,

Gi'es mair o' your beer, an' less bantry, Kate,
For we vow, whaur we sit,
That afore we shall flit,
We'se be better acquaint wi' your pantry, Kate.
The "daft days" are but beginning, Kate,

An we're sworn. Would you hae us a sinning, Kate?
By our faith an' our houp,
We will stick by the stoup
As lang as the barrel keeps rinning, Kate.

Thro' hay, an' thro' hairst, sair we toil it, Kate,
Thro' Simmer, an' Winter, we moil it, Kate;
Sae ye ken, whan the wheel
Is beginning to squeal,
It's time for to grease an' to oil it, Kate.

Sae draw us anither drappy, Kate,
An' gie us a cake to our cappy, Kate;
For, by spiggot an' pin!
It's waur than a sin
To flit when we're sitting sae happy, Kate.


Scheme AABBAC CDDCC CEEC CCFFC CCGGC
Poetic Form Tetractys  (28%)
Metre 0110111 10110101101 111101 1111111 111011101 1111111 111111111 111111 11111 111100111101 011110101 11111110101 11011101 111101 111010111 1111111111 1101101111 111101 101011 1111111111 111111 11101110101 11111 11101 1111101101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 892
Words 178
Sentences 9
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 5, 4, 5, 5
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 131
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
116

Hew Ainslie

Hew Ainslie was a Scottish poet.  more…

All Hew Ainslie poems | Hew Ainslie Books

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