Analysis of Uncle Bill
Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)
My Uncle Bill! My Uncle Bill!
How doth my heart with anguish thrill!
For he, our chief, our Robin Hood,
Has gone to jail for stealing wood!
With tears and sobs my voice I raise
To celebrate my uncle's praise;
With all my strength, with all my skill,
I'll sing the song of Uncle Bill."
Convivial to the last degree,
An open-hearted sportsman he.
Did midnight howls our slumbers rob,
We said, "It's uncle 'on the job'."
When sounds of fight rang sharply out,
Then Bill was bound to be about,
The foremost figure in "the scrap",
A terror to the local "trap".
To drink, or fight, or maim, or kill,
Came all alike to Uncle Bill.
And when he faced the music's squeak
At Central Court before the beak,
How carefully we sought our fob
To pay his fine of forty bob!
Recall the happy days of yore
When Uncle Bill went forth to war!
When all the street with strife was filled
And both the traps got nearly killed.
When the lone cabman on the stand
was "stoushed" by Bill's unaided hand,
And William mounted, filled with rum,
And drove the cab to kingdom come.
Remember, too, that famous fray
When the "Black-reds", who hold their sway
O'er Surry Hills and Shepherd's Bush,
Descended on the "Liver Push".
Who cheered both parties long and loud?
Who heaved blue metal at the crowd!
And sooled his bulldog, Fighting Bet,
To bite, haphazard, all she met?
And when the mob were lodged in gaol
Who telegraphed to me for bail?
And -- here I think he showed his sense --
Who calmly turned Queen's evidence?"
Enough! I now must end my song,
My needless anguish, why prolong?
From what I've said, you'll own, I'm sure,
That Uncle Bill was pretty "pure",
So, rowdies all, your glasses fill,
And -- drink it standing -- "Uncle Bill"."
Scheme | AABBCCAADDEEFFGGAAHHXEIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPAXXX QQRRAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 11111101 1110110101 11111101 11011111 1101101 11111111 11011101 010010101 11010101 1111011 11110101 11111101 11111101 0110001 01010101 11111111 11011101 01110101 11010101 110011101 11111101 1010111 11011111 11011111 01011101 1011101 11110101 01010111 01011101 01011101 10111111 101010101 01010101 11110101 11110101 0111101 11010111 01010101 1101111 01111111 11011100 01111111 11010101 11111111 11011101 11011101 01110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,719 |
Words | 321 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 42, 6 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 648 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 158 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:38 min read
- 73 Views
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"Uncle Bill" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2727/uncle-bill>.
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