Analysis of The Modern Major-General
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
I am the very pattern of a modern Major-Gineral,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral;
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical;
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,
With interesting facts about the square of the hypotenuse,
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus,
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous.
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-Gineral.
I know our mythic history - KING ARTHUR'S and SIR CARADOC'S,
I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox;
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of HELIOGABALUS,
In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous.
I tell undoubted RAPHAELS from GERARD DOWS and ZOFFANIES,
I know the croaking chorus from the "Frogs" of ARISTOPHANES;
Then I can hum a fugue, of which I've heard the music's din afore,
And whistle all the airs from that confounded nonsense "Pinafore."
Then I can write a washing-bill in Babylonic cuneiform,
And tell you every detail of CARACTACUS'S uniform.
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-Gineral.
In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin,"
When I can tell at sight a Chassepot rifle from a javelin,
When such affairs as SORTIES and surprises I'm more wary at,
And when I know precisely what is meant by Commissariat,
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery,
In short, when I've a smattering of elementary strategy,
You'll say a better Major-GenerAL has never SAT a gee -
For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury,
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century.
But still in learning vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-Gineral!
Scheme | aaaaaabbxbAA bxbbbxccddAA eeffccggccaA |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101010101 10101001000100 1101110011010100 1101100100100 110101011100100 101010101001 0101001011010111 110010101101 110111000010100 11001011101 010101001000100 11010101010101 111010100110011 1101110101110 110110111 010111001001 110101101101 110101010110100 111101111101011 01010111010101 1111010101100 011100011110 010101001000100 11010101010101 011111111101 111111011010100 1101110001011101 011101011111 111111111010100 1111110101000100 011101001010100 1101010100110101 1110010111001 1101111001010100 110101001000100 11010101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,992 |
Words | 346 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 531 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 114 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 104 Views
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"The Modern Major-General" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41311/the-modern-major-general>.
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