Analysis of The Careless Good Fellow
John Oldham 1653 (Shipton Moyne) – 1683
1 A pox of this fooling, and plotting of late,
2 What a pother, and stir has it kept in the state?
3 Let the rabble run mad with suspicions, and fears,
4 Let them scuffle, and jar, till they go by the ears:
5 Their grievances never shall trouble my pate,
6 So I can enjoy my dear bottle at quiet.
7 What coxcombs were those, who would barter their ease
8 And their necks for a toy, a thin wafer and mass?
9 At old Tyburn they never had needed to swing,
10 Had they been but true subjects to drink, and their king;
11 A friend, and a bottle is all my design;
12 He has no room for treason, that's top-full of wine.
13 I mind not the members and makers of laws,
14 Let them sit or prorogue, as his majesty please:
15 Let them damn us to woollen, I'll never repine
16 At my lodging, when dead, so alive I have wine:
17 Yet oft in my drink I can hardly forbear
18 To curse them for making my claret so dear.
19 I mind not grave asses, who idly debate
20 About right and succession, the trifles of state;
21 We've a good king already: and he deserves laughter
22 That will trouble his head with who shall come after:
23 Come, here's to his health, and I wish he may be
24 As free from all care, and all trouble, as we.
25 What care I how leagues with the Hollander go?
26 Or intrigues betwixt Sidney, and Monsieur D'Avaux?
27 What concerns it my drinking, if Cassel be sold,
28 If the conqueror take it by storming, or gold?
29 Good Bordeaux alone is the place that I mind,
30 And when the fleet's coming, I pray for a wind.
31 The bully of France, that aspires to renown
32 By dull cutting of throats, and vent'ring his own;
33 Let him fight and be damn'd, and make matches and treat,
34 To afford the news-mongers, and coffee-house chat:
35 He's but a brave wretch, while I am more free,
36 More safe, and a thousand times happier than he.
37 Come he, or the Pope, or the Devil to boot,
38 Or come faggot, and stake; I care not a groat;
39 Never think that in Smithfield I porters will heat:
40 No, I swear, Mr. Fox, pray excuse me for that.
41 I'll drink in defiance of gibbet, and halter,
42 This is the profession, that never will alter.
Scheme | AABBAX CXDDEE XCEEFF AAFFGG XBHHII XXJKFG XXJKFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01111001011 10101111001 101011101001 111001111101 11001011011 111011110110 1101111011 011101011001 11111011011 111111011011 01001011101 111111011111 11101001011 11111111001 11111101101 111011101111 1101111101 1111101111 11111011001 011001001011 1011010010110 111011111110 11111011111 11111011011 11111101001 10101100011 101111011011 101001111011 10101101111 01011011101 010111010101 11101101111 111011011001 101011001011 1101111111 110010110011 11101101011 11100111101 101101011011 111101101111 11001011010 110010110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,276 |
Words | 432 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 14 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 86 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 19, 2023
- 2:12 min read
- 46 Views
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