Analysis of Ballades II - Of The Book-Hunter
Andrew Lang 1844 (Selkirk, Scottish Borders) – 1912 (Banchory)
IN torrid heats of late July,
In March, beneath the bitter bise,
He book-hunts while the loungers fly,
He book-hunts, though December freeze;
In breeches baggy at the knees,
And heedless of the public jeers,
For these, for these, he hoards his fees,—
Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs.
No dismal stall escapes his eye,
He turns o’er tomes of low degrees,
There soiled romanticists may lie,
Or Restoration comedies;
Each tract that flutters in the breeze
For him is charged with hopes and fears,
In mouldy novels fancy sees
Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs.
With restless eyes that peer and spy,
Sad eyes that heed not skies nor trees,
In dismal nooks he loves to pry,
Whose motto evermore is Spes!
But ah! the fabled treasure flees;
Grown rarer with the fleeting years,
In rich men’s shelves they take their ease,—
Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs!
Prince, all the things that tease and please,—
Fame, hope, wealth, kisses, cheers, and tears,
What are they but such toys as these,—
Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs?
Scheme | abaccxcB acaccdcB acabcdcB cxcB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101111 01010101 1111011 11110101 0110101 0110101 11111111 111 11010111 11111101 11111 1010100 11110001 11111101 01010101 111 11011101 11111111 01011111 1101011 11010101 11010101 01111111 111 11011101 11110101 11111111 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,012 |
Words | 173 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 193 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 131 Views
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"Ballades II - Of The Book-Hunter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2774/ballades-ii---of-the-book-hunter>.
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