Analysis of Epistle to J. Lapraik (excerpt)
Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)
I am nae poet, in a sense,
But just a rhymer like by chance,
An' hae to learning nae pretence;
Yet what the matter?
Whene'er my Muse does on me glance,
I jingle at her.
Your critic-folk may cock their nose,
And say, "How can you e'er propose,
You wha ken hardly verse frae prose,
To mak a sang?"
But, by your leave, my learned foes,
Ye're maybe wrang.
What's a' your jargon o' your schools,
Your Latin names for horns an' stools?
If honest nature made you fools,
What sairs your grammars?
Ye'd better taen up spades and shools,
Or knappin-hammers.
A set o' dull, conceited hashes
Confuse their brains in college classes!
They gang in stirks and come out asses,
Plain truth to speak;
An' syne they think to climb Parnassus
By dint o' Greek!
Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire,
That's a' the learnin' I desire;
Then, tho' I drudge thro' dub an' mire
At pleugh or cart,
My Muse, though hamely in attire,
May touch the heart....
Scheme | ABACBC DDDEDE FFFAAX GGGHXH CCXICI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (30%) Etheree (27%) |
Metre | 11110001 11010111 1111011 11010 1111111 11010 11011111 011111001 11110111 1101 1111111 11101 10110111 11011111 11010111 1111 11011101 1110 011101010 011101010 110101110 1111 11111110 1111 111111010 10011010 11111111 1111 11110010 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,036 |
Words | 175 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 138 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 143 Views
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