Analysis of Washerwife
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
The aged Queen who passed away
Had sixty servants, so they say;
Twice sixty hands her shoes to tie:
Two soapy ones have I.
The old Queen had of beds a score;
A cot have I and ask no more.
For when the last is said and done
One can but die in one.
The old Queen rightly thought that she
Was better than the likes o' me;
And yet I'm glad despite her grace
I am not in her place.
The old Queen's gone and I am here,
To eat my tripe and drink my beer,
Athinkin' as I wash my clothes:
We must have monarchs, I suppose . . .
Well, well,--'Taint no skin off my nose!
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF XXXGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111101 11010111 11010111 110111 01111101 01110111 11011101 111101 01110111 11010111 01110101 111001 01110111 11110111 111111 1111101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 551 |
Words | 119 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 5 |
Lines Amount | 17 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 104 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 45 Views
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"Washerwife" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32740/washerwife>.
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