A Tragic Story
William Makepeace Thackeray 1811 – 1863
There lived a sage in days of yore,
And he a handsome pigtail wore;
But wondered much and sorrowed more,
Because it hung behind him.
He mused upon this curious case,
And swore he'd change the pigtail's place,
And have it hanging at his face,
Not dangling there behind him.
Says he, 'The mystery I've found -
Says he, 'The mystery I've found!
I'll turn me round,' - he turned him round;
But still it hung behind him.
Then round and round, and out and in,
All day the puzzled sage did spin;
In vain - it mattered not a pin -
The pigtail hung behind him.
And right and left and round about,
And up and down and in and out
He turned; but still the pigtail stout
Hung steadily behind him.
And though his efforts never slack,
And though he twist and twirl, and tack,
Alas! Still faithful to his back,
The pigtail hangs behind him.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 161 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | aaab cccb DDdb eeeb fffb gggb |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 832 |
Words | 161 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"A Tragic Story" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/40994/a-tragic-story>.
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