Analysis of The Little Old Woman
Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931
There's a Little Old Woman walks in the night,
Singing her love song like a falling keen;
The Little Old Woman is the heart's delight,
With the gold crown under her hood to tell her queen.
The Little Old Woman's coming up this way,
Playing on her harp-strings a magic air;
There's this one and that one, they may not stay,
Stealing out in the night after the player.
The Little Old Woman is at the door,
Though 'tis a queen she is, in rags she goes,
Open the door to her, long-waited for!
Oh, Love and Delight you are, the Dear Black Rose.
The Little Old Woman she is begging bread;
She shall never go hungry while the ages pass,
With the love of her lovers she shall be fed
And their hearts lie under her feet in the green grass.
They go from the lit board and the fire of peat
And the dreams and the longing stir in the blood.
Sweet to be poor with her, yea, death is sweet,
For the Dear Rose of Beauty in the beggar's hood.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DEDE FGFG HXHX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (60%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 10101101001 1001110101 01011010101 101110011101 01011010111 1010110101 1110111111 10100110010 0101101101 1101110111 1001101101 11001110111 01011011101 111011010101 10110101111 011110010011 111011001011 00100101001 1111101111 10111100011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 915 |
Words | 185 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 142 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 08, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 25 Views
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