Analysis of The Baffled Grumbler
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
Whene'er I poke
Sarcastic joke
Replete with malice spiteful,
The people vile
Politely smile
And vote me quite delightful!
Now, when a wight
Sits up all night
Ill-natured jokes devising,
And all his wiles
Are met with smiles,
It's hard, there's no disguising!
Oh, don't the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
And isn't your life extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at!
When German bands,
From music stands
Play Wagner imperFECTly -
I bid them go -
They don't say no,
But off they trot directly!
The organ boys
They stop their noise
With readiness surprising,
And grinning herds
Of hurdy-gurds
Retire apologising!
Oh, don't the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
And isn't your life extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at!
I've offered gold,
In sums untold,
To all who'd contradict me -
I've said I'd pay
A pound a day
To any one who kicked me -
I've bribed with toys
Great vulgar boys
To utter something spiteful,
But, bless you, no!
They WILL be so
Confoundedly politeful!
In short, these aggravating lads,
They tickle my tastes, they feed my fads,
They give me this and they give me that,
And I've nothing whatever to grumble at!
Scheme | aabccbddeffeGGHH iijkkjllexfaGGHH mmjnnjllbkkboohh |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111 0101 0111010 0101 0101 0111010 1101 1111 1101010 0111 1111 1111010 11011101 111101011 010110101 110101101 1101 1101 1100100 1111 1111 1111010 0101 1111 1100010 0101 111 011 11011101 111101011 010110101 110101101 1101 0101 111011 1111 0101 1101111 1111 1101 1101010 1111 1111 11 0111001 110111111 111101111 0110101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,181 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 16, 16 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 318 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 72 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 142 Views
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"The Baffled Grumbler" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41273/the-baffled-grumbler>.
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