Analysis of The Aristocrat

Gilbert Keith Chesterton 1874 (Kensington, London) – 1936 (Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire)



The Devil is a gentleman, and asks you down to stay
At his little place at What'sitsname (it isn't far away).
They say the sport is splendid; there is always something new,
And fairy scenes, and fearful feats that none but he can do;
He can shoot the feathered cherubs if they fly on the estate,
Or fish for Father Neptune with the mermaids for a bait;
He scaled amid the staggering stars that precipice, the sky,
And blew his trumpet above heaven, and got by mastery
The starry crown of God Himself, and shoved it on the shelf;
But the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn't brag himself.

O blind your eyes and break your heart and hack your hand away,
And lose your love and shave your head; but do not go to stay
At the little place in What'sitsname where folks are rich and clever;
The golden and the goodly house, where things grow worse for ever;
There are things you need not know of, though you live and die in vain,
There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain;
There is a game of April Fool that's played behind its door,
Where the fool remains for ever and the April comes no more,
Where the splendour of the daylight grows drearier than the dark,
And life droops like a vulture that once was such a lark:
And that is the Blue Devil that once was the Blue Bird;
For the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn't keep his word.


Scheme AABBCCXXDD AAEEFFGGHHII
Poetic Form
Metre 01010100011111 1110111110101 1101110111101 01010101111111 111010101111001 1111010101101 110101001110001 011100110011100 01011101011101 101010100010101 11110111011101 01110111111111 10101011111010 010001011111110 111111111110101 11111110111111 11011101110111 101011100010111 10110111101 0111010111101 0110110111011 101010100010111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,330
Words 260
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 12
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 48
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 524
Words per stanza (avg) 129
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:19 min read
78

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an influential English writer of the early 20th century His diverse output included journalism philosophy poetry biography Christian apologetics fantasy and detective fiction Gilbert Keith Chesterton KC*SG was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Time magazine observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out." more…

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