Analysis of Wapping Old Stairs



'Your Molly has never been false, she declares,
Since the last time we parted at Wapping Old Stairs;
When I said that I would continue the same,
And I gave you the 'bacco-box marked with my name.
When I passed a whole fortnight between decks with you,
Did I e'er give a kiss, Tom, to one of your crew?
To be useful and kind to my Thomas I stay'd,
For his trousers I washed, and his grog too I made.

Though you promised last Sunday to walk in the Mall
With Susan from Deptford and likewise with Sall,
In silence I stood your unkindness to hear
And only upbraided my Tom with a tear.
Why should Sall, or should Susan, than me be more prized?
For the heart that is true, Tom, should ne'er be despised;
Then be constant and kind, nor your Molly forsake,
Still your trousers I'll wash and your grog too I'll make.'


Scheme AABBCCDD EEXXFFGG
Poetic Form
Metre 11011011101 101111011011 11111101001 01110111111 11101101111 1110101111111 111001111011 111011011111 11101111001 110110111 010111111 01001011101 111111011111 101111111101 111001111001 111011011111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 802
Words 159
Sentences 7
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 39
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 311
Words per stanza (avg) 78
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
118

William Makepeace Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. more…

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