Analysis of The Ballad of the Murdered Merchant
Franklin P. Adams 1881 (Chicago, Illinois) – 1960 (New York City, New York)
All stark and cold the merchant lay,
All cold and stark lay he.
And who hath killed the fair merchant?
Now tell the truth to me.
Oh, I have killed this fair merchant
Will never again draw breath;
Oh, I have made this fair merchant
To come unto his death.
Oh, why hast thou killed this fair merchant
Whose corpse I now behold?
And why hast caused this man to lie
In death all stark and cold?
Oh, I have killed this fair merchant
Whose kith and kin make moan,
For that he hath stolen my precious time
When he useth the telephone.
The telephone bell rang full and clear;
The receiver did I seize.
"Hello!" quoth I, and quoth a girl,
"Hello! . . . One moment, please."
I waited moments ane and twa,
And moments three and four,
And then I sought the fair merchant
And spilled his selfish gore.
That business man who scorneth to waste
His moments sae rich and fine
In calling a man to the telephone
Shall never again waste mine!
And every time a henchwoman
Shall cause me a moment's loss,
I'll forthwith fare to that office
And stab to death her boss.
Rise up! Rise up! thou blesséd knight!
And off thy bended knees!
Go forth and slay all folk who make
Us wait "One moment, please."
Scheme | xaba Bcbc bdxd Bexe xfxf xgbg xheh exxx xfxf |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 11010101 110111 01110110 110111 11111110 1100111 11111110 111011 111111110 111101 01111111 011101 11111110 110111 1111101101 111010 01011101 0010111 01110101 011101 11010101 010101 01110110 011101 11011111 1101101 010011010 1100111 0100101 1110101 11111110 011101 11111111 011101 11011111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,177 |
Words | 227 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 54 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Ballad of the Murdered Merchant" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14162/the-ballad-of-the-murdered-merchant>.
Discuss this Franklin P. Adams poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In