Analysis of The Cane-Bottom'd Chair
In tattered old slippers that toast at the bars,
And a ragged old jacket perfumed with cigars,
Away from the world, and its toils and its cares,
I've a snug little kingdom up four pair of stairs.
To mount to this realm is a toil, to be sure,
But the fire there is bright and the air rather pure;
And the view I behold on a sunshiny day
Is grand through the chimney-pots over the way.
This snug little chamber is cramm'd in all nooks
With worthless old knicknacks and silly old books,
And foolish old odds and foolish old ends,
Crack'd bargains from brokers, cheap keepsakes from friends.
Old armor, prints, pictures, pipes, china (all crack'd),
Old rickety tables, and chairs broken-backed;
A two-penny treasury, wondrous to see;
What matter? 'tis pleasant to you, friend, and me.
No better divan need the Sultan require,
Than the creaking old sofa that basks by the fire;
And 'tis wonderful, surely, what music you get
From the rickety, ramshackle, wheezy spinet.
That praying-rug came from a Turcoman's camp;
By Tiber once twinkled that brazen old lamp;
A Mameluke fierce yonder dagger has drawn:
'Tis a murderous knife to toast muffins upon.
Long, long through the hours, and the night, and the chimes,
Here we talk of old books, and old friends, and old times;
As we sit in a fog made of rich Latakie,
This chamber is pleasant to you, friend, and me.
But of all the cheap treasures that garnish my nest,
There is one that I love and I cherish the best:
For the finest of couches that's padded with hair
I never would change thee, my cane-bottom'd chair.
'Tis a bandy-legg'd, high shoulder'd, worm-eaten seat,
With a creaking old back, and twisted old feet;
But since the fair morning when Fanny sat there,
I bless thee and love thee, old cane-bottom'd chair.
If chairs have but feeling, in holding such charms,
A thrill must have pass'd through your wither'd old arms!
I look'd, and I long'd, and I wish'd in despair;
I wished myself turn'd to a cane-bottom'd chair.
It was but a moment she sat in this place,
She'd a scarf on her neck, and a smile on her face;
A smile on her face, and a rose in her hair,
And she sat there and bloom'd in my cane-bottom'd chair.
And so I have valued my chair ever since,
Like the shrine of a saint, or the throne of a prince;
Saint Fanny, my patroness sweet I declare,
The queen of my heart and my cane-bottom'd chair.
When the candles burn low, and the company's gone,
In the silence of night as I sit here alone --
I sit here alone, but we yet are a pair --
My Fanny I see in my cane-bottom'd chair.
She comes from the past and revisits my room;
She looks as she then did, all beauty and bloom;
So smiling and tender, so fresh and so fair,
And yonder she sits in my cane-bottom'd chair.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIXD JJKX LLXH MMNN OONN PPNN QQNN RRNN KXNN SSNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (79%) |
Metre | 01011011101 001011001101 01101011011 101101011111 11111101111 1010111001101 00110110101 11101011001 11101011011 1101101011 0101101011 1101101111 11011011011 11001001101 01101001011 11011011101 11001101010 1010110111010 011001011011 101001011 110111011 11011011011 0101101011 101001111001 111010001001 111111011011 1110011111 11011011101 111011011011 111111011001 101011011011 11011111101 1010101101101 10101101011 11011011011 11101111101 11111001011 01111111011 11011011001 1111101101 11101011011 101101001101 01101001001 011101011101 01111011101 101101101101 11011001101 01111011101 101011001001 001011111101 11101111101 11011011101 11101001011 11111111001 11001011011 01011011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,735 |
Words | 507 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 149 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 2:39 min read
- 109 Views
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"The Cane-Bottom'd Chair" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41040/the-cane-bottom%27d-chair>.
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