Analysis of Judgment Day
Ellis Parker Butler 1869 (Muscatine) – 1937 (Williamsville)
Saint Peter stood, at Heaven's gate,
All souls claims to adjudicate
Saying to some souls, 'Enter in!'
'Go to Hell,' to others, 'you are steeped in sin.'
When up from earth, with a great hubbub,
Came all the members of the Tuscarora Club.
The angel Gabriel, peering out,
Said, 'What, the devil, is this noise about?'
'Gabe,' said Peter, 'There's always lots of noise,
At any get-together of the Tuscarora boys -
Those are anglers and they all tell lies
About the trout that got away, their fierceness and their size -
They want to enter Heaven, for our brooks are full of trout,
But I won't have any liars, and I'll keep the whole gang out;
No liars enter Heaven, and I'll most distinctly tell
The whole danged Tuscarora Club, it has to go to Hell.'
Then, at a little distance from the precious pearly gate,
The Tuscarora fellows paused to talk and cogitate;
One Barr said this, one Barr said that, McAlpin had his say,
But foxy Charley Roberts said, 'This is the only way -
'You'd best leave this to me,' he said. 'Just let me handle Pete
and in a trice we'll be inside upon the golden street;
I'll show him that he's one of us, because he used to be,
Himself, a brother fisher, in the Sea of Gallilee-
And I move you, Mr. President, we make the poor old dub
An honorary member of the Tuscarora Club.'
'Agreed! Agreed!' the members cried, but Manny Barr said, 'Wait!
Amend it thus 'PROVIDED - That he didn't fish with bait.''
Saint Peter saw them coming but his face was hard and stern,
He had formed his resolution from which he would not turn,
Not even Roberts' palaver would ever change him so
He'd send the Tuscarorans anywhere, but down below.
But now upon his countenance there came a look of pain,
He stepped from foot to foot, and then from foot to foot again:
He hailed a new-come resident, who near the portal stood,
A goodly Christian gentleman, whose name was Hubert Wood.
He said to him, 'Come here, my friend, and tend awhile this gate-
Just take my place for half an hour - I've got to urinate.'
With that Saint Peter hustled off. The gate-keeper pro tem
Observed the Tuscarorans and he waved his hand at them.
'Come in! come in!' he shouted, for he was an angler, too,
And he knew that anglers, as a whole, were earth's most harmless crew.
So all the Tuscarorans got to heaven, thanks to Wood,
And the Secretary's last report says, 'Fishing there is good.'
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFDDGGAAHHIIJGCCAAKKLLMNOOAAPPQQOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 1111010 10111100 11111011101 111110110 110101011 010100101 1101011101 111011111 11010101011 111001111 0101110111011 111101011011111 111110100110111 11010100110101 01111111111 11010101010101 011011100 11111111010111 11010101110101 11111111111101 00011101010101 11111111011111 010101000111 01111010110111 1100101011 01010101110111 01110101110111 11011101111101 1111010111111 110101110111 1101101101 11011100110111 11111101111101 11011100110101 01010100111101 11111111010111 11111111011110 11110101011011 01010111111 10101101111101 011110101011101 11011110111 00100101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,337 |
Words | 453 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 41 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,801 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 438 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:16 min read
- 49 Views
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"Judgment Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11046/judgment-day>.
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