Analysis of You Are Old Father William
Lewis Carroll 1832 (Daresbury) – 1898 (Guildford)
"You are old, father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
Do you think, at your age, it is right?
"In my youth," father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."
"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
Pray what is the reason for that?"
"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment -- one shilling a box --
Allow me to sell you a couple?"
"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak --
Pray, how did you mange to do it?"
"In my youth," said his fater, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."
"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as every;
Yet you balanced an eel on the tend of your nose --
What made you so awfully clever?"
"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DEDE FGFG HAHX IJIJ KXKX LML M |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110100111 011101101 01101001111 111111111 011101001111 11111001 11111001111 111101001 111101111001 011111001 11101100101 11101011 011101111111 111111010 101111011001 011111010 111101011111 1101011 111001101001 11111111 01111111101 01011111 001001111111 11001111 111101111001 11111101100 111011101111 11111010 111011001101 111011011 111111011111 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,395 |
Words | 297 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 1 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 116 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 23, 2023
- 1:25 min read
- 134 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"You Are Old Father William" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25812/you-are-old-father-william>.
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