Analysis of Merry Andrew
Matthew Prior 1664 – 1721
Sly Merry Andrew, the last Southwark fair;
(At Bartholomew he did not much appear,
So peevish was the dict of the Mayor)
At Southwark, therefore, as his tricks he show'd,
To please our masters, and his friends the crowd,
A huge neat's tongue he in his right hand held,
His left was with a good black pudding fill'd.
With a grave look, in this odd equipage,
The clownish mimic traverses the stage:
Why, how now, Andrew! cries his brother droll,
To-day's conceit methinks is something dull.
Come on, Sir, to our worthy friends explain
What does your emblematic Worship mean?
Quoth Andrew, honest English let us speak;
Your emble - (what d'ye call it?) is Heathen Greek.
To tongue or pudding thou hast no pretence;
Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense.
That busy fool I was which thou art now,
Desirous to correct, not knowing how,
Blaming or praising things as I thought fit:
I for this conduct had what I deserved.
And dealing honestly was almost starved.
But thanks to my indulgent stars, I eat,
Since I have found the secret to be great.
O dearest Andrew, says the humble droll,
Henceforth may I obey and thou control;
Provided thou impart thy useful skill -
Bow then, says Andrew, and for once I will.-
Be of your patron's mind, whate'er he says;
Sleep very much; think little, and talk less:
Mind neither good nor bad, nor right nor wrong,
But eat your pudding, slave, and hold your tongue.
A reverend prelate stopp'd his couch-and-six
To laugh a little at our Andrew's tricks:
But when he heard him give this golden rule,
Drive on (he cried) this fellow is no fool.
Scheme | XXXXXXXAABXXXCCDDEEXXXXXBBFFDDXX DDGG |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110100111 1010111101 1101011010 11111111 11101001101 0111101111 1111011101 10110111 0110101 1111011101 110111101 11111010101 111010101 1101010111 11111111101 111101111 1011011111 1101111111 0101011101 1011011111 1110111101 010100111 1111010111 1111010111 1101010101 1111010101 0101011101 1111001111 111111011 1101110011 1101111111 1111010111 01001011101 1101011011 1111111101 1111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,547 |
Words | 287 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 32, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 608 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 142 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 110 Views
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"Merry Andrew" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/27380/merry-andrew>.
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