Analysis of The Twa Corbies



As I was walking all alane,
    I heard twa corbies making a mane;
    The tane unto the t'other say,
    "Where sall we gang and dine to-day?"

"In behint yon auld fail dyke,
    I wot there lies a new slain knight;
    And naebody kens that he lies there,
    But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair.

"His hound is to the hunting gane,
  His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame;
  His lady's ta'en another mate,
  So we may mak our dinner sweet.

"Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
  And I'll pike out his bonny blue een;
  Wi ae lock o his gowden hair
  We'll theek our nest when it grows bare.

"Mony a one for him makes mane,
  But nane sall ken where he is gane;
  Oer his white banes, when they are bare,
  The wind sall blaw for evermair."


Scheme AABB XXCC AXXX AACC AACC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (60%)
Etheree  (30%)
Metre 11110101 11111001 011001101 11110111 011111 11110111 0111111 111110101 11110101 11110111 110110101 111110101 1111111 011111011 1111111 111011111 10011111 11111111 11111111 011111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 746
Words 143
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 105
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
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