Analysis of Good Little Girls
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
Although of native maids the cream,
We're brought up on the English scheme -
The best of all
For great and small
Who modesty adore.
For English girls are good as gold,
Extremely modest (so we're told),
Demurely coy - divinely cold -
And we are that - and more.
To please papa, who argues thus -
All girls should mould themselves on us,
Because we are,
By furlongs far,
The best of all the bunch;
We show ourselves to loud applause
From ten to four without a pause -
Which is an awkward time because
It cuts into our lunch.
Oh, maids of high and low degree,
Whose social code is rather free,
Please look at us and you will see
What good young ladies ought to be!
And as we stand, like clockwork toys,
A lecturer papa employs
To puff and praise
Our modest ways
And guileless character -
Our well-known blush - our downcast eyes -
Our famous look of mild surprise
(Which competition still defies) -
Our celebrated "Sir!!!"
Then all the crowd take down our looks
In pocket memorandum books.
To diagnose,
Our modest pose
The kodaks do their best:
If evidence you would possess
Of what is maiden bashfulness,
You only need a button press -
And WE do all the rest.
Scheme | AABBCDDDCEEFFGHHHG IIII JJKKLMMMLNNXXOPEPO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (40%) Tetractys (25%) |
Metre | 1110101 11110101 0111 1101 110001 11011111 01010111 01010101 011101 11101101 11110111 0111 111 011101 110011101 11110101 11110101 1101101 11110101 11011101 11110111 11110111 0111111 01001001 1101 10101 010100 101111011 101011101 1010101 101001 110111101 0100101 101 10101 01111 11001101 111101 11010101 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,126 |
Words | 221 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 4, 18 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 298 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 73 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 36 Views
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"Good Little Girls" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41228/good-little-girls>.
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