Analysis of The King and Queen and I
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Oh, Scotty, have you visited the Picture Gallery,
And did you see the portraits of the King and Queen and me?
The portraits made by Longstaff, and the pictures done by Jack,
Of the King and Queen and Lawson and the lady all in black?
The King is robed in royal state, with medals on his breast,
And, like the mother Queen she is, Her Majesty is dressed.
The lady’s dressed in simple black and sports no precious stones,
And I a suit of reach-me-downs I bought from Davy Jones.
We’re strangers two to two, and each unto the other three—
I do not know the lady and I don’t think she knows me.
We’re strangers to each other here, and to the other two,
And they themselves are strangers yet, if all we hear is true.
I s’pose we’re just as satisfied as folks have ever been:
The lady would much rather be her own self than the Queen;
And though I’m down and precious stiff and I admire King Ned,
I’d sooner just be Harry, with his follies on his head.
We four may meet together—stranger folk have met, I ween,
Than a rhymer and a monarch and a lady and a queen.
Ned and I might talk it over on the terrace, frank and free,
With cigars, while Alexandra and the lady’s having tea.
Anyway, we’ll never quarrel while we’re hanging on the wall—
Friends! we all have had our troubles—we are human, one and all!
If by chance we hang together—hang together on the line,
And the thing should shock the Godly—then it’s Longstaff’s fault, not mine.
Scheme | AABBCCDD AAEE FGHH FGAA IIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011100010100 01110101010101 0101110010111 101010100010101 01110101110111 01010111010011 0110101011101 01011111111101 01011101100101 11110100111111 01011101010101 01011101111111 1101110111101 01011101011101 01110101010111 11011101110111 11110101011111 10100010010001 101111101010101 1011010001101 10110101010101 1111110101110101 111110101010101 00111010111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,460 |
Words | 273 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 220 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 59 Views
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