Analysis of Sir Guy the Crusader
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
Sir GUY was a doughty crusader,
A muscular knight,
Ever ready to fight,
A very determined invader,
And DICKEY DE LION'S delight.
LENORE was a Saracen maiden,
Brunette, statuesque,
The reverse of grotesque,
Her pa was a bagman from Aden,
Her mother she played in burlesque.
A CORYPHEE, pretty and loyal,
In amber and red
The ballet she led;
Her mother performed at the Royal,
LENORE at the Saracen's Head.
Of face and of figure majestic,
She dazzled the cits -
Ecstaticised pits; -
Her troubles were only domestic,
But drove her half out of her wits.
Her father incessantly lashed her,
On water and bread
She was grudgingly fed;
Whenever her father he thrashed her
Her mother sat down on her head.
GUY saw her, and loved her, with reason,
For beauty so bright
Sent him mad with delight;
He purchased a stall for the season,
And sat in it every night.
His views were exceedingly proper,
He wanted to wed,
So he called at her shed
And saw her progenitor whop her -
Her mother sit down on her head.
"So pretty," said he, "and so trusting!
You brute of a dad,
You unprincipled cad,
Your conduct is really disgusting,
Come, come, now admit it's too bad!
"You're a turbaned old Turk, and malignant -
Your daughter LENORE
I intensely adore,
And I cannot help feeling indignant,
A fact that I hinted before;
"To see a fond father employing
A deuce of a knout
For to bang her about,
To a sensitive lover's annoying."
Said the bagman, "Crusader, get out."
Says GUY, "Shall a warrior laden
With a big spiky knob,
Sit in peace on his cob
While a beautiful Saracen maiden
Is whipped by a Saracen snob?
"To London I'll go from my charmer."
Which he did, with his loot
(Seven hats and a flute),
And was nabbed for his Sydenham armour
At MR. BEN-SAMUEL'S suit.
SIR GUY he was lodged in the Compter,
Her pa, in a rage,
Died (don't know his age),
His daughter, she married the prompter,
Grew bulky and quitted the stage.
Scheme | ABBAB CDDCD EFFEF GHHGH AFFAF CBBCB AFFAF IJJIJ KLLKL IBMIM CNNCN AOOAO APPAP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (32%) |
Metre | 111010010 01001 101011 010010010 01011001 0110110 0101 001101 011010110 01011001 0110010 01001 00111 010011010 011011 110110010 11001 11 010010010 11011101 010010010 11001 111001 010010110 01011101 110010110 11011 111101 110011010 01011001 110010010 11011 111101 010010010 01011101 110110110 11101 101001 101110010 11101111 101110010 11001 101001 0110110010 01111001 110110010 01101 111001 1010010010 101001011 111010010 101101 101111 10100110 111011 110111110 111111 101001 01111110 1101101 11111001 01001 11111 11011001 1100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,845 |
Words | 355 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 65 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 63 Views
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"Sir Guy the Crusader" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41264/sir-guy-the-crusader>.
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