Analysis of Christmas At The Round Table
John Hookham Frere 1769 – 1846
The great King Arthur made a royal feast,
And held his Royal Christmas at Carlisle,
And thither came the vassals, most and least,
From every corner of the British Isle;
And all were entertained, both man and beast,
According to their rank, in proper style;
The steeds were fed and littered in the stable,
The ladies and the knights sat down to table.
The bill of fare (as you may well suppose)
Was suited to those plentiful old times,
Before our modern luxuries arose,
With truffles, and ragouts, and various crimes;
And, therefore, from the original in prose
I shall arrange the catalogue in rhymes:
They served up salmon, venison and wild boars
By hundreds, and by dozens, and by scores.
Hogsheads of honey, kilderkins of mustard,
Muttons, and fatted beeves, and bacon swine;
Herons and bitterns, peacocks, swan, and bustard,
Teal, mallard, pigeons, widgeons, and, in fine.
Plum-puddings, pancakes, apple-pies, and custard,
And therewithal they drank good Gascon wine,
With mead, and ale, and cider of our own;
For porter, punch, and negus were not known.
All sorts of people there were seen together,
All sorts of characters, all sorts of dresses;
The fool with fox's tail and peacock feather,
Pilgrims, and penitents, and grave burgesses;
The country people with their coats of leather,
Vintners and victuallers with cans and messes,
Grooms, archers, varlets, falconers, and yeomen,
Damsels, and waiting-maids, and waiting-women.
Scheme | ABABABCC DEDEDEDX FGFGFGHH IXIDIXGX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111010101 011101011 011010101 11001010101 010011101 0101110101 01010100010 01000111110 0111111101 1101110011 01101010001 1100101001 0110010001 110101001 11110100011 1100110011 11101110 10110101 100111010 110101001 1101101010 01111101 11010101101 1101010011 11110101010 11110011110 0111010110 1001011 01010111110 100111010 11110001 1010101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,410 |
Words | 235 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 282 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 68 Views
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"Christmas At The Round Table" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23320/christmas-at-the-round-table>.
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