Analysis of Bottle 'O'

Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)



I ain't the kind of bloke as takes to any steady job;
I drives me bottle cart around the town;
A bloke what keeps 'is eyes about can always make a bob --
I couldn't bear to graft for every brown.
There's lots of handy things about in everybody's yard,
There's cocks and hens a-runnin' to an' fro,
And little dogs what comes and barks -- we take 'em off their guard
And we puts 'em with the Empty Bottle-O!

Chorus --
So it's any "Empty bottles! Any empty bottle-O!"
You can hear us round for half a mile or so
And you'll see the women rushing
To take in the Monday's washing
When they 'ear us crying, "Empty Bottle-O!"

I'm driving down by Wexford-street and up a winder goes,
A girl sticks out 'er 'ead and looks at me,
An all-right tart with ginger 'air, and freckles on 'er nose;
I stops the cart and walks across to see.
"There ain't no bottles 'ere," says she, "since father took the pledge,"
"No bottles 'ere," says I, "I'd like to know
What right 'ave you to stick your 'ead outside the winder ledge,
If you 'aven't got no Empty Bottle-O!"
I sometimes gives the 'orse a spell, and then the push and me
We takes a little trip to Chowder Bay.
Oh! ain't it nice the 'ole day long a-gazin' at the sea
And a-hidin' of the tanglefoot away.
But when the booze gits 'old of us, and fellows starts to "scrap",
There's some what likes blue-metal for to throw:
But as for me, I always says for layin' out a "trap"
There's nothing like an Empty Bottle-O!


Scheme ABABCDCD XDDEED FGFGHDHDGIGIJDJD
Poetic Form
Metre 11011111110101 1111010101 0111110111101 11011111001 1111010101001 110101111 01011101111111 01111010101 10 111010101010101 11111110111 01101010 11001010 11111010101 1101111010101 0111010111 11111101010101 1101010111 11110111110101 1101111111 11111111110101 110111110101 10110101010101 1101011101 1111011101101 00110101 11011111010111 1111110111 111111111101 1101110101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,455
Words 286
Sentences 12
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 6, 16
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 357
Words per stanza (avg) 93
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:28 min read
92

Andrew Barton Paterson

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and "Waltzing Matilda" (1895), regarded widely as Australia's unofficial national anthem. more…

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