Analysis of A Worm Will Turn
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
I love a man who'll smile and joke
When with misfortune crowned;
Who'll pun beneath a pauper's yoke,
And as he breaks his daily toke,
Conundrums gay propound.
Just such a man was Bernaqrd Jupp
He scoffed at Fortune's frown;
He gaily drained his bitter cup -
Though Fortune often threw him up,
It never cast him down.
Though years their share of sorrow bring,
We know that far above
All other griefs, are griefs that spring
From some misfortune happening
To those we really love.
E'en sorrow for another's woe
Our BERNARD failed to quell;
Though by this special form of blow
No person ever suffered so,
Or bore his grief so well.
His father, wealthy and well clad,
And owning house and park,
Lost every halfpenny he had,
And then became (extremely sad!)
A poor attorney's clerk.
All sons it surely would appal,
Except the passing meek,
To see a father lose his all,
And from an independence fall
To one pound ten a week!
But JUPP shook off this sorrow's weight,
And, like a Christian son,
Proved Poverty a happy fate -
Proved Wealth to be a devil's bait,
To lure poor sinners on.
With other sorrows Bernard coped,
For sorrows came in packs;
His cousins with their housemaids sloped -
His uncles forged - his aunts eloped -
His sisters married blacks.
But BERNARD, far from murmuring
(Exemplar, friends, to us),
Determined to his faith to cling, -
He made the best of everything,
And argued softly thus:
"'Twere harsh my uncles' forging knack
Too rudely to condemn -
My aunts, repentant, may come back,
And blacks are nothing like as black
As people colour them!"
Still Fate, with many a sorrow rife,
Maintained relentless fight:
His grandmamma next lost her life,
Then died the mother of his wife,
But still he seemed all right.
His brother fond (the only link
To life that bound him now)
One morning, overcome by drink,
He broke his leg (the right, I think)
In some disgraceful row.
But did my Bernard swear and curse?
Oh no - to murmur loth,
He only said, "Go, get a nurse:
Be thankful that it isn't worse;
You might have broken both!"
But worms who watch without concern
The cockchafer on thorns,
Or beetles smashed, themselves will turn
If, walking through the slippery fern,
You tread upon their corns.
One night as Bernard made his track
Through Brompton home to bed,
A footpad, with a vizor black,
Took watch and purse, and dealt a crack
On BERNARD'S saint-like head.
It was too much - his spirit rose,
He looked extremely cross.
Men thought him steeled to mortal foes,
But no - he bowed to countless blows,
But kicked against this loss.
He finally made up his mind
Upon his friends to call;
Subscription lists were largely signed,
For men were really glad to find
Him mortal, after all!
Scheme | ABAAB CDCCD EFEEF GHGGH IXIIX HJKKJ LXLLX XMBBM ENEEN OPOOP QRQQR SXSSG TXTTX UVUUV OWOOW XYXXY ZKZZK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 110101 1101011 01111101 1101 1101111 111101 11011101 11010111 110111 11111101 111101 11011111 11010100 111101 111010101 1001111 11110111 11010101 111111 11010011 010101 1100111 01010101 010101 1111011 010101 11010111 0110101 111101 1111111 010101 11000101 11110101 111101 11010011 110101 1101111 1101111 110101 10111100 010111 01011111 1101110 010101 11110101 110101 11010111 01110111 11011 111100101 010101 111101 11010111 111111 11010101 111111 1101011 11110111 010101 11101101 111101 11011101 11011101 111101 11110101 0111 11010111 110101001 110111 11101111 11111 011011 11010101 101111 11111101 110101 11111101 11111101 110111 11001111 011111 01010101 11010111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,617 |
Words | 490 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 85 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 123 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:29 min read
- 61 Views
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"A Worm Will Turn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41201/a-worm-will-turn>.
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