Analysis of The Family Fool
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon,
If you listen to popular rumour;
From morning to night he's so joyous and bright,
And he bubbles with wit and good humour!
He's so quaint and so terse, both in prose and in verse;
Yet though people forgive his transgression,
There are one or two rules that all Family Fools
Must observe, if they love their profession.
There are one or two rules,
Half-a-dozen, maybe,
That all family fools,
Of whatever degree,
Must observe if they love their profession.
If you wish to succeed as a jester, you'll need
To consider each person's auricular:
What is all right for B would quite scandalise C
(For C is so very particular);
And D may be dull, and E's very thick skull
Is as empty of brains as a ladle;
While F is F sharp, and will cry with a carp,
That he's known your best joke from his cradle!
When your humour they flout,
You can't let yourself go;
And it DOES put you out
When a person says, "Oh!
I have known that old joke from my cradle!"
If your master is surly, from getting up early
(And tempers are short in the morning),
An inopportune joke is enough to provoke
Him to give you, at once, a month's warning.
Then if you refrain, he is at you again,
For he likes to get value for money:
He'll ask then and there, with an insolent stare,
"If you know that you're paid to be funny?"
It adds to the tasks
Of a merryman's place,
When your principal asks,
With a scowl on his face,
If you know that you're paid to be funny?
Comes a Bishop, maybe, or a solemn D.D. -
Oh, beware of his anger provoking!
Better not pull his hair - don't stick pins in his chair;
He won't understand practical joking.
If the jests that you crack have an orthodox smack,
You may get a bland smile from these sages;
But should it, by chance, be imported from France,
Half-a-crown is stopped out of your wages!
It's a general rule,
Though your zeal it may quench,
If the Family Fool
Makes a joke that's TOO French,
Half-a-crown is stopped out of his wages!
Though your head it may rack with a bilious attack,
And your senses with toothache you're losing,
And you're mopy and flat - they don't fine you for that
If you're properly quaint and amusing!
Though your wife ran away with a soldier that day,
And took with her your trifle of money;
Bless your heart, they don't mind - they're exceedingly kind -
They don't blame you - as long as you're funny!
It's a comfort to feel
If your partner should flit,
Though YOU suffer a deal,
THEY don't mind it a bit -
They don't blame you - so long as you're funny!
Scheme | xabaxcdCdedeC xaeaffxfghghf eixixejEklklE bijimxxnopopn mixixexeqrqre |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101001101101 111011000 11011111001 011011011 111011101001 1110011010 111111111001 1011111010 111111 101010 111001 11001 1011111010 111101101011 10101101 1111111111 1111100100 01111011011 1110111010 11111011101 1111111110 11111 111011 011111 101011 1111111110 1110110110110 010110010 10011101101 1111110110 11101111101 1111110110 11101111001 1111111110 11101 1011 111001 101111 1111111110 10101010101 1011110010 101111111011 110110010 10111111101 1110111110 11111101011 1011111110 101001 111111 101001 101111 1011111110 1111111010001 011011110 01101111111 1110010010 111101101011 0110110110 111111101001 1111111110 101011 111011 111001 111101 1111111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,471 |
Words | 487 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 13, 13, 13, 13 |
Lines Amount | 65 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 385 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 2:34 min read
- 80 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Family Fool" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41291/the-family-fool>.
Discuss this William Schwenck Gilbert poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In