Analysis of Merry Maid

John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)



Bonny and stout and brown, without a hat,
She frowns offended when they call her fat--
Yet fat she is, the merriest in the place,
And all can know she wears a pretty face.
But still she never heeds what praise can say,
But does the work, and oft runs out to play,
To run about the yard and ramp and noise
And spring the mop upon the servant boys.
When old hens noise and cackle every where
She hurries eager if the eggs are dear,
And runs to seek them when they lay away
To get them ready for the market day.
She gambols with the men and laughs aloud
And only quarrels when they call her proud.


Scheme AABBCCDDEFCCGG
Poetic Form
Metre 1001010101 1101011101 111101001 0111110101 1111011111 1101011111 1101010101 0101010101 11110101001 1101010111 0111111101 1111010101 111010101 0101011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 589
Words 121
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 462
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
54

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet in his time he was commonly known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet more…

All John Clare poems | John Clare Books

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