Analysis of A Holiday
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
The Wife
The house is like a garden,
The children are the flowers,
The gardener should come methinks
And walk among his bowers,
Oh! lock the door on worry
And shut your cares away,
Not time of year, but love and cheer,
Will make a holiday.
The Husband
Impossible! You women do not know
The toil it takes to make a business grow.
I cannot join you until very late,
So hurry home, nor let the dinner wait.
The Wife
The feast will be like Hamlet
Without a Hamlet part:
The home is but a house, dear,
Till you supply the heart.
The Xmas gift I long for
You need not toil to buy;
Oh! give me back one thing I lack –
The love-light in your eye.
The Husband
Of course I love you, and the children too.
Be sensible, my dear, it is for you
I work so hard to make my business pay.
There, now, run home, enjoy your holiday.
The Wife (turning)
He does not mean to wound me,
I know his heart is kind.
Alas! that man can love us
And be so blind, so blind.
A little time for pleasure,
A little time for play;
A word to prove the life of love
And frighten care away!
Tho’ poor my lot in some small cot
That were a holiday.
The Husband (musing)
She has not meant to wound me, nor to vex –
Zounds! but ‘tis difficult to please the sex.
I’ve housed and gowned her like a very queen
Yet there she goes, with discontented mien.
I gave her diamonds only yesterday:
Some women are like that, do what you may.
Scheme | Axbbbcded Fgghh Axieixjxj Fkkdd lcmxmxdxdxd lnnoodd |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01 0111010 0101010 0100111 0101110 1101110 011101 11111101 11010 010 0100110111 0111110101 1101101101 1101110101 01 0111110 010101 0111011 110101 011111 111111 11111111 011011 010 1111100101 1100111111 1111111101 111101110 0110 1111111 111111 0111111 011111 0101110 010111 01110111 010101 11110111 10010 01010 1111111111 1111001101 1101010101 111110101 110101010 1101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,392 |
Words | 280 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 5, 9, 5, 11, 7 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 175 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 66 Views
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