Analysis of The Magnet and the Churn
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
A MAGNET hung in a hardware shop,
And all around was a loving crop
Of scissors and needles, nails and knives,
Offering love for all their lives;
But for iron the Magnet felt no whim,
Though he charmed iron, it charmed not him,
From needles and nails and knives he'd turn,
For he'd set his love on a Silver Churn!
His most aesthetic,
Very magnetic
Fancy took this turn -
"If I can wheedle
A knife or needle,
Why not a Silver Churn?"
And Iron and Steel expressed surprise,
The needles opened their well-drilled eyes,
The pen-knives felt "shut up," no doubt,
The scissors declared themselves "cut out,"
The kettles they boiled with rage, 'tis said,
While every nail went off its head,
And hither and thither began to roam,
Till a hammer came up - and drove it home,
While this magnetic
Peripatetic
Lover he lived to learn,
By no endeavour,
Can Magnet ever
Attract a Silver Churn!
Scheme | AAXXBBCCDDCEEC FFGGHHIIDDCJJC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010011 010110101 110010101 10011111 1110010111 111101111 110010111 1111110101 11010 10010 10111 1111 01110 110101 010010101 010101111 01111111 010010111 010111111 110011111 010010111 1010110111 11010 0010 101111 11010 11010 010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 857 |
Words | 164 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 340 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 80 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 15, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 268 Views
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"The Magnet and the Churn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41307/the-magnet-and-the-churn>.
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