Analysis of The Philosophic Pill
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
I've wisdom from the East and from the West,
That's subject to no academic rule;
You may find it in the jeering of a jest,
Or distill it from the folly of a fool.
I can teach you with a quip, if I've a mind;
I can trick you into learning with a laugh;
Oh, winnow all my folly, and you'll find
A grain or two of truth among the chaff!
I can set a braggart quailing with a quip,
The upstart I can wither with a whim;
He may wear a merry laugh upon his lip,
But his laughter has an echo that is grim.
When they've offered to the world in merry guise,
Unpleasant truths are swallowed with a will -
For he who'd make his fellow-creatures wise
Should always gild the philosophic pill!
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme |
Metre | 1101010101 101110101 11110010101 10111010101 11111011101 11110110101 111110011 0111110101 111011101 011110101 11101010111 11101110111 11101010101 0101110101 1111110101 11100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 671 |
Words | 138 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 260 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 68 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
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"The Philosophic Pill" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41319/the-philosophic-pill>.
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