Analysis of Barmaid
William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)
Though, if you ask her name, she says Elise,
Being plain Elizabeth, e'en let it pass,
And own that, if her aspirates take their ease,
She ever makes a point, in washing glass,
Handling the engine, turning taps for tots,
And countering change, and scorning what men say,
Of posing as a dove among the pots,
Nor often gives her dignity away.
Her head's a work of art, and, if her eyes
Be tired and ignorant, she has a waist;
Cheaply the Mode she shadows; and she tries
From penny novels to amend her taste;
And, having mopped the zinc for certain years,
And faced the gas, she fades and disappears.
Scheme | ABCBDEDEFGFGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011101 101010011111 0111010111 1101010101 1001010111 0100101111 1101010101 1101010001 0101110101 11001001101 100111011 1101010101 0101011101 010111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 591 |
Words | 113 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 459 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 111 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 26, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 107 Views
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"Barmaid" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40449/barmaid>.
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