Analysis of Market Women’s Cries
Jonathan Swift 1667 (Dublin) – 1745 (Ireland)
COME buy my fine wares,
Plums, apples and pears.
A hundred a penny,
In conscience too many:
Come, will you have any?
My children are seven,
I wish them in Heaven;
My husband ’s a sot,
With his pipe and his pot,
Not a farthen will gain them,
And I must maintain them.
Come, follow me by the smell,
Here are delicate onions to sell;
I promise to use you well.
They make the blood warmer,
You’ll feed like a farmer;
For this is every cook’s opinion,
No savoury dish without an onion;
But, lest your kissing should be spoiled,
Your onions must be thoroughly boiled:
Or else you may spare
Your mistress a share,
The secret will never be known:
She cannot discover
The breath of her lover,
But think it as sweet as her own.
Be not sparing,
Leave off swearing.
Buy my herring
Fresh from Malahide,
Better never was tried.
Come, eat them with pure fresh butter and mustard,
Their bellies are soft, and as white as a custard.
Come, sixpence a dozen, to get me some bread,
Or, like my own herrings, I soon shall be dead.
Scheme | AABBBCCXXDD EEEFFCCGGHHIFFI JJJKKLLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (23%) |
Metre | 11111 11001 010010 010110 111110 110110 111010 110101 111011 101111 011011 1101101 111001011 1101111 110110 111010 1111001010 11101110 11110111 110111001 11111 11001 01011011 110010 011010 11111101 1110 1110 1110 1101 101011 11111110010 110110111010 1101011111 11111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,043 |
Words | 196 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 15, 9 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 258 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 365 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Market Women’s Cries" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24277/market-women%E2%80%99s-cries>.
Discuss this Jonathan Swift poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In