Analysis of Gregory Parable, LL.D.
A leafy cot, where no dry rot
Had ever been by tenant seen,
Where ivy clung and wopses stung,
Where beeses hummed and drummed and strummed,
Where treeses grew and breezes blew -
A thatchy roof, quite waterproof,
Where countless herds of dicky-birds
Built twiggy beds to lay their heads
(My mother begs I'll make it "eggs,"
But though it's true that dickies do
Construct a nest with chirpy noise,
With view to rest their eggy joys,
'Neath eavy sheds, yet eggs and beds,
As I explain to her in vain
Five hundred times, are faulty rhymes).
'Neath such a cot, built on a plot
Of freehold land, dwelt MARY and
Her worthy father, named by me
GREGORY PARABLE, LL.D.
He knew no guile, this simple man,
No worldly wile, or plot, or plan,
Except that plot of freehold land
That held the cot, and MARY, and
Her worthy father, named by me
GREGORY PARABLE, LL.D.
A grave and learned scholar he,
Yet simple as a child could be.
He'd shirk his meal to sit and cram
A goodish deal of Eton Gram.
No man alive could him nonplus
With vocative of FILIUS;
No man alive more fully knew
The passive of a verb or two;
None better knew the worth than he
Of words that end in B, D, T.
Upon his green in early spring
He might be seen endeavouring
To understand the hooks and crooks
Of HENRY and his Latin books;
Or calling for his "Caesar on
The Gallic War," like any don;
Or, p'raps, expounding unto all
How mythic BALBUS built a wall.
So lived the sage who's named by me
GREGORY PARABLE, LL.D.
To him one autumn day there came
A lovely youth of mystic name:
He took a lodging in the house,
And fell a-dodging snipe and grouse,
For, oh! that mild scholastic one
Let shooting for a single gun.
By three or four, when sport was o'er,
The Mystic One laid by his gun,
And made sheep's eyes of giant size,
Till after tea, at MARY P.
And MARY P. (so kind was she),
She, too, made eyes of giant size,
Whose every dart right through the heart
Appeared to run that Mystic One.
The Doctor's whim engrossing him,
He did not know they flirted so.
For, save at tea, "MUSA MUSAE,"
As I'm advised, monopolised
And rendered blind his giant mind.
But looking up above his cup
One afternoon, he saw them spoon.
"Aha!" quoth he, "you naughty lass!
As quaint old OVID says, 'Amas!'"
The Mystic Youth avowed the truth,
And, claiming ruth, he said, "In sooth
I love your daughter, aged man:
Refuse to join us if you can.
Treat not my offer, sir, with scorn,
I'm wealthy though I'm lowly born."
"Young sir," the aged scholar said,
"I never thought you meant to wed:
Engrossed completely with my books,
I little noticed lovers' looks.
I've lived so long away from man,
I do not know of any plan
By which to test a lover's worth,
Except, perhaps, the test of birth.
I've half forgotten in this wild
A father's duty to his child.
It is his place, I think it's said,
To see his daughters richly wed
To dignitaries of the earth -
If possible, of noble birth.
If noble birth is not at hand,
A father may, I understand
(And this affords a chance for you),
Be satisfied to wed her to
A BOUCICAULT or BARING - which
Means any one who's very rich.
Now, there's an Earl who lives hard by, -
My child and I will go and try
If he will make the maid his bride -
If not, to you she shall be tied."
They sought the Earl that very day;
The Sage began to say his say.
The Earl (a very wicked man,
Whose face bore Vice's blackest ban)
Cut short the scholar's simple tale,
And said in voice to make them quail,
"Pooh! go along! you're drunk, no doubt -
Here, PETERS, turn these people out!"
The Sage, rebuffed in mode uncouth,
Returning, met the Mystic Youth.
"My darling boy," the Scholar said,
"Take MARY - blessings on your head!"
The Mystic Boy undid his vest,
And took a parchment from his breast,
And said, "Now, by that noble brow,
I ne'er knew father such as thou!
The sterling rule of common sense
Now reaps its proper recompense.
Rejoice, my soul's unequalled Queen,
For I am DUKE OF GRETNA GREEN!"
Scheme | abcadxefxdggfxxahIA jjkhIA iilleeddiixcmmnnooiA ppqqrr xrsiisxrxxeaxxxxe ttjjuuvvmmjjwwxxvvwwkkddyyzz1 1 2 2 jj3 3 4 4 ttvv 5 5 6 6 7 7 bb |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011111 11011101 1101011 1110101 1110101 011110 11011101 11011111 11011111 1111111 01011101 1111111 1111101 11011001 11011101 11011101 1111100 01010111 1001001 11111101 11011111 0111111 11010100 01010111 1001001 0101101 11010111 11111101 0111101 1101111 1111 11011101 01010111 11010111 11110111 01110101 11111 1010101 11001101 11011101 01011101 111010101 1101101 11011111 1001001 11110111 01011101 11010001 01010101 11110101 11010101 111111110 01011111 01111101 11011101 01011111 11111101 110011101 01111101 01010101 11111101 1111101 11011 01011101 11010111 1011111 1111101 111111 01010101 01011101 1111011 01111111 11110111 11011101 1101101 11011111 01010111 11010101 11110111 11111101 11110101 01010111 11010011 01010111 11111111 11110101 1100101 11001101 11011111 0101101 01010111 1101101 011101 11011101 11111111 11011101 11110111 11111111 11011101 01011111 01010101 1111101 11010101 01011111 11011111 11011101 01010111 01010101 11010101 11010111 01010111 01010111 01111101 11110111 01011101 1111010 011111 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,830 |
Words | 765 |
Sentences | 40 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 19, 6, 20, 6, 17, 30, 8, 4, 8 |
Lines Amount | 118 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 331 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 83 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:53 min read
- 92 Views
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"Gregory Parable, LL.D." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41229/gregory-parable%2C-ll.d.>.
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