Analysis of An Old Song Re-sung
Padraic Colum 1881 (County Longford) – 1972 (Enfield)
As I went down through Dublin city
At the hour of twelve of the night,
Who did I see but a Spanish lady
Washing her feet by candle light.
First she washed them,
Then she dried them,
All by a fire of amber coals,
In all my life I never did see
A maid so neat about the soles.
I asked her would she come a-walking,
And we went on where the small bats flew,
A coach I called then to instate her,
And on we went till the grey cocks crew.
Combs of amber
In her hair were,
And her eyes had every spell,
In all my life I never did see
A maid whom I could love so well.
But when I came to where I found her,
And set her down from the halted coach,
Who was there waiting, his arms folded,
But that fatal swordsman, Tiger Roache?
Then blades were out,
And 'twas thrust and cut,
And never wrist gave me more affright,
Till I lay low upon the floor
Where she stood holding the candle light.
But, O ye bucks of Dublin city,
If I should see at twelve of the night,
In any chamber, such lovely lady
Washing her feet by candle light,
And drying o'er
Soles neat as hers,
All by a fire of amber coal
Your blades be dimmed! I'd whisper her,
And take her for a midnight stroll!
Scheme | abaBccdAd xefeffgAg fhxhxxaxb abaBfxifi |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111010 101011101 1111101010 10011101 1111 1111 110101101 011111011 01110101 110111010 011110111 01111110 011110111 1110 0010 00111001 011111011 01111111 111111110 010110101 111101110 11101101 1101 01101 01011111 11110101 111100101 111111010 111111101 0101011010 10011101 01010 1110 110101101 11111100 0101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,130 |
Words | 239 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 221 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 111 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"An Old Song Re-sung" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28438/an-old-song-re-sung>.
Discuss this Padraic Colum 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