Analysis of Frogs in chorus
Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)
The chorus frogs in the big lagoon
Would sing their songs to the silvery moon.
Tenor singers were out of place,
For every frog was a double bass.
But never a human chorus yet
Could beat the accurate time they set.
The solo singer began the joke;
He sang, "As long as I live I'll croak,
Croak, I'll croak,"
And the chorus followed him: "Croak, croak, croak!"
The poet frog, in his plaintive tone,
Sang of a sorrow was all his own;
"How shall I win to my heart's desire?
How shall I feel my spirit's fire?"
And the solo frog in his deepest croak,
"To fire your spirit," he sang, "eat coke,
Coke, eat coke,"
And the chorus followed him: "Coke, coke, coke!"
The green frog sat in a swampy spot
And he sang the song of he knew not what.
"The world is rotten, oh cursed plight,
That I am the frog that must set it right.
How shall I scatter the shades that lurk?"
And the old man bullfrog sang, "Get work,
Work, get work,"
And the chorus followed him: "Work, work, work!"
The soaring spirits that fain would fly
On wings of hope to the starry sky
Must face the snarls of the jealous dogs,
For the world is ruled by its chorus frogs.
Scheme | AAXXBBCCCC DDEECCCC XXFFGGGG HHII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (27%) Tetractys (23%) |
Metre | 010100101 1111101001 10100111 1100110101 110010101 110100111 01100101 111111111 111 0010101111 010101101 110101111 1111111010 111111010 001101101 1101101111 111 0010101111 011100101 0110111111 01110111 1110111111 111100111 00111111 111 0010101111 010101111 111110101 110110101 1011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,149 |
Words | 229 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 211 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 175 Views
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"Frogs in chorus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2522/frogs-in-chorus>.
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