Analysis of Lost Pleiad, The
Arthur Reed Ropes 1859 (United Kingdom) – 1933 (Kensington)
'Twas a pretty little maiden
In a garden gray and old,
Where the apple trees were laden
With the magic fruit of gold;
But she strayed beyond the portal
Of the garden of the Sun,
And she flirted with a mortal,
Which she oughtn't to have done!
For a giant was her father and a goddess was her mother,
She was Merope or Sterope, the one or else the other;
And the man was not the equal, though presentable and rich,
Of Merope or Sterope, I don't remember which!
Now the giant's daughters seven,
She among them, if you please,
Were translated to the heaven
As the starry Pleiades!
But amid their constellation
One alone was always dark,
For she shrank from observation
Or censorious remark.
She had yielded to a mortal when he came to flirt and flatter.
She was Merope or Sterope, the former or the latter;
So the planets all ignored her, and the comets wouldn't call
On Merope or Sterope, I am not sure at all!
But the Dog-star, brightly shining
In the hottest of July,
Saw the pretty Pleiad pining
In the shadow of the sky,
And he courted her and kissed her
Till she kindled into light;
And the Pleiads' erring sister
Was the lady of the night!
So her former indiscretion as a fault was never reckoned,
To Merope or Sterope, the first or else the second,
And you'll never see so rigidly respectable a dame
As Merope or Sterope, I can't recall her name!
Scheme | ABABCACADDEE AFAFAGAG DDHH IJIJDKDK LLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101010 0010101 10101010 1010111 11101010 1010101 01101010 1110111 1010101000101010 111110111010 001110101010001 1111110101 10101010 1011111 00101010 101010 1011010 101111 1111010 1101 1110101011111010 111110101010 101010100010101 1111111111 10111010 001011 10101010 001101 01100010 1110011 00101010 1010101 101001010111010 11110111010 011011100010001 111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,328 |
Words | 257 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 8, 4, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 211 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 10 Views
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"Lost Pleiad, The" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54788/lost-pleiad%2C-the>.
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