Analysis of Little Ballads Of Timely Warning; III:
Ellis Parker Butler 1869 (Muscatine) – 1937 (Williamsville)
Little Ballads Of Timely Warning; III: On Laziness And Its Resultant Ills
There was a man in New York City
(His name was George Adolphus Knight)
So soft of heart he wept with pity
To see our language and its plight.
He mourned to see it sorely goaded
With silent letters left and right;
These from his own name he unloaded
And wrote it Georg Adolfus Nit.
Six other men in that same city
Who longed to see a Spelling Heaven
Formed of themselves a strong committee
And asked Georg Nit to make it seven.
He joined the other six with pleasure,
Proud such important men to know,
Agreeing that their first great measure
Should be to shorten the word though.
But G. Adolfus Nit was lazy;
He dilly-dallied every day;
His life was dreamy, slow and hazy,
And indolent in every way.
On Monday morn at nine precisely
The six reformers (Nit not there)
Prepared to simplify though nicely,
And each was eager for his share.
Smith bit the h off short and ate it;
Griggs from the thoug chewed off the g;
Brown snapped off u to masticate it,
And tho alone was left for three.
Delancy’s teeth broke o off quickly;
From th Billings took his t,
And then the h, albeit prickly,
Was shortly swallowed by McGee.
This done, the six lay back in plenty,
Well fed, they picked their teeth and smiled,
And lazy Nit, about 10:20,
Strolled in, as careless as a child.
'Well, boys,' he said, 'where’s the collation?
I’m hungry, let us eat some though.'
'All gone!' they said, and then Starvation,
(Who is not lazy) laid Nit low.
Nit trembled, gasped, and, as the phrase is,
Cashed in his checks, gave up his breath,
And turned his toes up to the daisies—
His laziness had caused his death!
Spelling reformers should make haste.
If each reformer wants a taste.
Scheme | XABAB XBXC ADAD EFEF AGAG AHAH CACA AAAA AIXI DFDF XJXJ KK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101101011100010101 110101110 11110101 111111110 111010011 111111010 11010101 111111010 0111011 110101110 111101010 110101010 0110111110 110101110 11010111 010111110 11110011 1111110 110101001 111101010 010001001 110111010 01010111 01110110 01110111 110111011 11011101 1111111 01011111 1111110 11110111 010101010 11010101 110111010 11111101 010101 10110101 1111101 11011111 111101010 11110111 110101011 10111111 011111010 11001111 10010111 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,704 |
Words | 325 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:36 min read
- 64 Views
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"Little Ballads Of Timely Warning; III:" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11048/little-ballads-of-timely-warning%3B-iii%3A>.
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