Analysis of The Policeman's Lot
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
When a felon's not engaged in his employment,
Or maturing his felonious little plans,
His capacity for innocent enjoyment
Is just as great as any honest man's.
Our feelings we with difficulty smother
When constabulary duty's to be done:
Ah, take one consideration with another,
A policeman's lot is not a happy one!
When the enterprising burglar isn't burgling,
When the cut-throat isn't occupied in crime,
He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling,
And listen to the merry village chime.
When the coster's finished jumping on his mother,
He loves to lie a-basking in the sun:
Ah, take one consideration with another,
The policeman's lot is not a happy one!
Scheme | ababcdCd efefcdCd |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10110101010 101010100101 101001100010 1111110101 101011100010 101001111 11100101010 00101110101 10100101010 1011101001 111101010100 0101010101 10110101110 1111010001 11100101010 00101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 653 |
Words | 113 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 262 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 34 Views
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