Analysis of Lays of Sorrow
Lewis Carroll 1832 (Daresbury) – 1898 (Guildford)
The day was wet, the rain fell souse
Like jars of strawberry jam, a
sound was heard in the old henhouse,
A beating of a hammer.
Of stalwart form, and visage warm,
Two youths were seen within it,
Splitting up an old tree into perches for their poultry
At a hundred strokes a minute.
The work is done, the hen has taken
Possession of her nest and eggs,
Without a thought of eggs and bacon,
(Or I am very much mistaken happy)
She turns over each shell,
To be sure that all's well,
Looks into the straw
To see there's no flaw,
Goes once round the house,
Half afraid of a mouse,
Then sinks calmly to rest
On the top of her nest,
First doubling up each of her legs.
Time rolled away, and so did every shell,
"Small by degrees and beautifully less,"
As the large mother with a powerful spell
Forced each in turn its contents to express,
But ah! "imperfect is expression,"
Some poet said, I don't care who,
If you want to know you must go elsewhere,
One fact I can tell, if you're willing to hear,
He never attended a Parliament Session,
For I'm certain that if he had ever been there,
Full quickly would he have changed his ideas,
With the hissings, the hootings, the groans and the cheers.
And as to his name it is pretty clear
That it wasn't me and it wasn't you!
And so it fell upon a day,
(That is, it never rose again)
A chick was found upon the hay,
Its little life had ebbed away.
No longer frolicsome and gay,
No longer could it run or play.
"And must we, chicken, must we part?"
Its master cried with bursting heart,
And voice of agony and pain.
So one, whose ticket's marked "Return",
When to the lonely roadside station
He flies in fear and perturbation,
Thinks of his home--the hissing urn--
Then runs with flying hat and hair,
And, entering, finds to his despair
He's missed the very last train.
Too long it were to tell of each conjecture
Of chicken suicide, and poultry victim,
The deadly frown, the stern and dreary lecture,
The timid guess, "perhaps some needle pricked him!"
The din of voice, the words both loud and many,
The sob, the tear, the sigh that none could smother,
Till all agreed "a shilling to a penny
It killed itself, and we acquit the mother!"
Scarce was the verdict spoken,
When that still calm was broken,
A childish form hath burst into the throng;
With tears and looks of sadness,
That bring no news of gladness,
But tell too surely something hath gone wrong!
"The sight I have come upon
The stoutest heart would sicken,
That nasty hen has been and gone
And killed another chicken!"
Scheme | AXABXXCXDADCEEFFAAGGAEAEADHIXDIAAXH JXJJJJKKLMDDMIIL BXBXCBCBDDNAANXDXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110111 1111010 1110011 0101010 11010101 1101011 10111101101110 10101010 011101110 01010101 010111010 11110101010 111011 111111 10101 11111 11101 101101 111011 101101 110011101 11010111001 110101001 10110101001 1101110101 110101010 11011111 111111111 11111111011 110010010010 111011111011 11011111010 1010101001 0111111101 1110101101 01110101 11110101 01110101 110111001 110101 11011111 01110111 11011101 01110001 11110101 11010110 11010010 11110101 11110101 010011101 1101011 11101111010 1101001010 01010101010 01010111011 01110111010 01010111110 11010101010 11010101010 1101010 1111110 0101110101 1101110 111111 1111010111 0111101 011110 11011101 0101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,461 |
Words | 478 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 35, 16, 18 |
Lines Amount | 69 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 646 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 157 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 2:24 min read
- 110 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Lays of Sorrow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25770/lays-of-sorrow>.
Discuss this Lewis Carroll 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