Analysis of The Ape and the Lady
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
A LADY fair, of lineage high,
Was loved by an Ape, in the days gone by -
The Maid was radiant as the sun,
The Ape was a most unsightly one -
So it would not do -
His scheme fell through;
For the Maid, when his love took formal shape,
Expressed such terror
At his monstrous error,
That he stammered an apology and made his 'scape,
The picture of a disconcerted Ape.
With a view to rise in the social scale,
He shaved his bristles, and he docked his tail,
He grew moustachios, and he took his tub,
And he paid a guinea to a toilet club.
But it would not do,
The scheme fell through -
For the Maid was Beauty's fairest Queen,
With golden tresses,
Like a real princess's,
While the Ape, despite his razor keen,
Was the apiest Ape that ever was seen!
He bought white ties, and he bought dress suits,
He crammed his feet into bright tight boots,
And to start his life on a brand-new plan,
He christened himself Darwinian Man!
But it would not do,
The scheme fell through -
For the Maiden fair, whom the monkey craved,
Was a radiant Being,
With a brain far-seeing -
While a Man, however well-behaved,
At best is only a monkey shaved!
| Scheme | aabbccdeedd ffggCChiihh jjkkCClmmll |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 010111001 1111100111 011100101 011010101 11111 1111 1011111101 01110 111010 111101000111 0101011 1011100101 1111001111 11101111 01101010101 11111 0111 10111101 11010 101100 101011101 101111011 111101111 111101111 0111110111 110011001 11111 0111 1010110101 1010010 101110 10110101 111100101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 1,102 |
| Words | 219 |
| Sentences | 6 |
| Stanzas | 3 |
| Stanza Lengths | 11, 11, 11 |
| Lines Amount | 33 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 288 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 72 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 79 Views
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"The Ape and the Lady" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41271/the-ape-and-the-lady>.
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