Analysis of Corn and Catholics
Thomas Moore 1779 (Dublin) – 1852 (Bromham)
"What! still those two infernal questions,
That with our meals our slumbers mix --
That spoil our tempers and digestions --
Eternal Corn and Catholics!
Gods! were there ever two such bores?
Nothing else talk'd of night or morn --
Nothing in doors, or out of doors,
But endless Catholics and Corn!
Never was such a brace of pests --
While Ministers, still worse than either,
Skill'd but in feathering their nests,
Plague us with both, and settle neither.
So addled in my cranium meet
Popery and Corn, that oft I doubt,
Whether this year, 'twas bonded Wheat
Or bonded Papists, they let out.
Here, landlords, here, polemics nail you,
Arm'd with all rubbish they can rake up;
Prices and Texts at once assail you --
From Daniel these, and those from Jacob.
And when you sleep, with head still torn
Between the two, their shapes you mix,
Till sometimes Catholics seem Corn --
Then Corn again seems Catholics.
Now, Dantzic wheat before you floats --
Now, Jesuits from California --
Now, Ceres, link'd with Titus Oats,
Comes dancing through the "Porta Cornea."
Oft, too, the Corn grows animate,
And a whole crop of heads appears,
Like Papists, bearding Church and State --
Themselves, together by the ears!
In short, these torments never cease;
And oft I wish myself transferr'd off
To some far, lonely land of peace,
Where Corn or Papists ne'er were heard of.
Yes, waft me, Parry, to the Pole,
For -- if my fate is to be chosen
'Twixt bores and icebergs -- on my soul,
I'd rather, of the two, be frozen!
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IXIX DBDB JKJK XLXL MXMX NONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111101010 111011011 11101001 0101010 10110111 10111111 10011111 1101001 10110111 110011110 11010011 111101010 110011001 1011111 10111101 1101111 11101011 111101111 100111011 110101110 01111111 01011111 1011011 1101110 1110111 11001010 11011101 1101010100 11011100 00111101 111101 01010101 0111101 01111011 11110111 11111011 11110101 111111110 11010111 110101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,465 |
Words | 270 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 114 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 08, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 118 Views
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"Corn and Catholics" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36824/corn-and-catholics>.
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