Analysis of The Mocking Fairy

Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)



'Won't you look out of your window, Mrs. Gill?'
Quoth the Fairy, nidding, nodding in the garden;
'Can't you look out of your window, Mrs. Gill?'
Quoth the Fairy, laughing softly in the garden;
But the air was still, the cherry boughs were still,
And the ivy-tod neath the empty sill,
And never from her window looked out Mrs. Gill
On the Fairy shrilly mocking in the garden.

'What have they done with you, you poor Mrs. Gill?'
Quoth the Fairy brightly glancing in the garden;
'Where have they hidden you, you poor old Mrs. Gill?'
Quoth the Fairy dancing lightly in the garden;
But night's faint veil now wrapped the hill,
Stark 'neath the stars stood the dead-still Mill,
And out of her cold cottage never answered Mrs. Gill
The Fairy mimbling, mambling in the garden.


Scheme ABABAAAB ABABAAAB
Poetic Form
Metre 11111110101 10101100010 11111110101 101010100010 10111010101 0010110101 010101011101 10101100010 11111111101 101010100010 111101111101 101010100010 11111101 110110111 01101101010101 010110010
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 776
Words 143
Sentences 13
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 295
Words per stanza (avg) 69
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
126

Walter de la Mare

Walter John de la Mare was an English poet short story writer and novelist best remembered for his works for children and The Listeners He was born in Kent and was educated at St Pauls Cathedral School His first book Songs of Childhood was published under the name Walter Ramal His 1921 novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction more…

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