Analysis of The Four Friends
Alan Alexander Milne 1882 – 1956
Ernest was an elephant, a great big fellow,
Leonard was a lion with a six foot tail,
George was a goat, and his beard was yellow,
And James was a very small snail.
Leonard had a stall, and a great big strong one,
Earnest had a manger, and its walls were thick,
George found a pen, but I think it was the wrong one,
And James sat down on a brick
Earnest started trumpeting, and cracked his manger,
Leonard started roaring, and shivered his stall,
James gave a huffle of a snail in danger
And nobody heard him at all.
Earnest started trumpeting and raised such a rumpus,
Leonard started roaring and trying to kick,
James went on a journey with the goats new compass
And he reached the end of his brick.
Ernest was an elephant and very well intentioned,
Leonard was a lion with a brave new tail,
George was a goat, as I think I have mentioned,
but James was only a snail.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GDGD HBHB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 101110001110 10101010111 1101011110 01101011 10101001111 10101001101 110111111011 0111101 101010001110 10101001011 1101101010 011111 101010001101 10101001011 111010101110 01101111 10111000101010 10101010111 11011111110 1111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 861 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 136 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 19, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 164 Views
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"The Four Friends" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/269/the-four-friends>.
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