Analysis of The Beggar's Opera (excerpts)
Air I.An old woman clothed in gray, &c.1-
Through all the employments of life
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Each neighbour abuses his brother;
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Whore and rogue they call husband and wife:
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All professions be-rogue one another.
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The priest calls the lawyer a cheat,
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The lawyer be-knaves the divine;
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And the statesman, because he's so great,
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Thinks his trade as honest as mine.Air XI.A Soldier and a Sailor2-
A fox may steal your hens, sir,
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A whore your health and pence, sir,
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Your daughter rob your chest, sir,
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Your wife may steal your rest, sir,
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A thief your goods and plate.
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But this is all but picking,
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With rest, pence, chest and chicken;
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It ever was decreed, sir,
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If lawyer's hand is fee'd, sir,
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He steals your whole estate.Air XXII.Cotillon3-
Youth's the season made for joys,
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Love is then our duty,
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She alone who that employs,
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Well deserves her beauty.
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Let's be gay,
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While we may,
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Beauty's a flower, despised in decay.CHORUS.3-
Youth's the season, &c.Cotillon3-
Let us drink and sport to-day,
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Ours is not to-morrow.
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Love with youth flies swift away,
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Age is nought but sorrow.
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Dance and sing,
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Time's on the wing,
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Life never knows the return of spring.CHORUS.3-
Let us drink, &c.Air XXVI.4-
Courtiers, Courtiers think it no harm, &c.4-
Man may escape from rope and gun;
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Nay, some have out-liv'd the doctor's pill;
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Who takes a woman must be undone,
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That basilisk is sure to kill.
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The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets,
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So he that tastes woman, woman, woman,
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He that tastes woman, ruin meets.
Scheme | AB C B C X D E CC C C C E F G C C DH A H A I I HDI J I J F F H BAG K G K L G L |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101101011 11001011 1 11010110 1 101111001 1 1010111010 1 01101001 1 01011001 1 001001111 1 111110111100010 0111111 1 0111011 1 1101111 1 1111111 1 011101 1 1111110 1 1111010 1 1101011 1 1101111 1 111111 1010111 1 1111010 1 1011101 1 101010 1 111 1 111 1 10100101 10101 1110111 1 1011110 1 1111101 1 111110 1 101 1 1101 1 110100111 11111 10010011111 11011101 1 111110101 1 110101101 1 111111 1 0111111001 1 1111101010 1 11110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 1,600 |
Words | 308 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 25, 9, 17, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 15 |
Lines Amount | 77 |
Letters per line (avg) | 15 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 52 Views
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"The Beggar's Opera (excerpts)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22780/the-beggar%27s-opera-%28excerpts%29>.
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