Analysis of A London Fête
All night fell hammers, shock on shock;
With echoes Newgate's granite clang'd:
The scaffold built, at eight o'clock
They brought the man out to be hang'd.
Then came from all the people there
A single cry, that shook the air;
Mothers held up their babes to see,
Who spread their hands, and crow'd for glee;
Here a girl from her vesture tore
A rag to wave with, and join'd the roar;
There a man, with yelling tired,
Stopp'd, and the culprit's crime inquired;
A sot, below the doom'd man dumb,
Bawl'd his health in the world to come;
These blasphemed and fought for places;
Those, half-crush'd, cast frantic faces,
To windows, where, in freedom sweet,
Others enjoy'd the wicked treat.
At last, the show's black crisis pended;
Struggles for better standings ended;
The rabble's lips no longer curst,
But stood agape with horrid thirst;
Thousands of breasts beat horrid hope;
Thousands of eyeballs, lit with hell,
Burnt one way all, to see the rope
Unslacken as the platform fell.
The rope flew tight; and then the roar
Burst forth afresh; less loud, but more
Confused and affrighting than before.
A few harsh tongues for ever led
The common din, the chaos of noises,
But ear could not catch what they said.
As when the realm of the damn'd rejoices
At winning a soul to its will,
That clatter and clangour of hateful voices
Sicken'd and stunn'd the air, until
The dangling corpse hung straight and still.
The show complete, the pleasure past,
The solid masses loosen'd fast:
A thief slunk off, with ample spoil,
To ply elsewhere his daily toil;
A baby strung its doll to a stick;
A mother praised the pretty trick;
Two children caught and hang'd a cat;
Two friends walk'd on, in lively chat;
And two, who had disputed places,
Went forth to fight, with murderous faces.
Scheme | ABABCCDDEEBBFFGGBBBBBBHIHIEEEBJBDKGKKBBLLMMBBGG |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111 1101101 01011101 11011111 11110101 01011101 10111111 11110111 1011011 011110101 10111010 10011010 01010111 11100111 1101110 11111010 11010101 10010101 11011101 101101010 0111101 11011101 10111101 1011111 11111101 11011 01110101 11011111 0101101 01111101 0101010110 11111111 11011011 11001111 1100111010 10010101 010011101 01010101 01010101 01111101 1111101 010111101 01010101 11010101 11110101 011101010 1111110010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,726 |
Words | 313 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 47 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,370 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 311 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 149 Views
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"A London Fête" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7332/a-london-f%C3%AAte>.
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