Analysis of The Knight

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Our good knight, Ted, girds his broadsword on
(And he wields it well, I ween);
He 's on his steed, and away has gone
To the fight for king and queen.
What tho' no edge the broadsword hath?
What tho' the blade be made of lath?
'T is a valiant hand
That wields the brand,
So, foeman, clear the path!

He prances off at a goodly pace;
'T is a noble steed he rides,
That bears as well in the speedy race
As he bears in battle-tides.
What tho' 't is but a rocking-chair
That prances with this stately air?
'T is a warrior bold
The reins doth hold,
Who bids all foes beware!


Scheme AAXXBBCCB DEDEFFGGF
Poetic Form
Metre 101111111 0111111 1111100111 1011101 1111011 11011111 110101 1101 11101 110110101 11010111 111100101 1110101 111110101 11011101 1101001 0111 111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 558
Words 116
Sentences 8
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 9, 9
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 212
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 16, 2023

34 sec read
51

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life one poem in the collection being Ode to Ethiopia more…

All Paul Laurence Dunbar poems | Paul Laurence Dunbar Books

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