Analysis of May Day
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
Will you go a-maying, a-maying, a-maying,
Come and be my Queen of May and pluck the may with me?
The fields are full of daisy buds and new lambs playing,
The bird is on the nest, dear, the blossom's on the tree.'
'If I go with you, if I go a-maying,
To be your Queen and wear my crown this May-day bright,
Hand in hand straying, it must be only playing,
And playtime ends at sunset, and then good-night.
'For I have heard of maidens who laughed and went a-maying,
Went out queens and lost their crowns and came back slaves.
I will be no young man's slave, submitting and obeying,
Bearing chains as those did, even to their graves.'
'If you come a-maying, a-straying, a-playing,
We will pluck the little flowers, enough for you and me;
And when the day dies, end our one day's playing,
Give a kiss and take a kiss and go home free.'
Scheme | ABAB ACAC ADAD ABAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111010101 1011111010111 0111110101110 011101101101 1111111101 111101111111 101101111010 011110111 1111110110101 11101110111 11111110100010 10111110111 11101010010 11101010011101 010111101110 10101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 824 |
Words | 163 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 157 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 96 Views
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"May Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8867/may-day>.
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