Analysis of The Precocious Baby - a Very True Tale
An elderly person - a prophet by trade -
With his quips and tips
On withered old lips,
He married a young and a beautiful maid;
The cunning old blade!
Though rather decayed,
He married a beautiful, beautiful maid.
She was only eighteen, and as fair as could be,
With her tempting smiles
And maidenly wiles,
And he was a trifle past seventy-three:
Now what she could see
Is a puzzle to me,
In a prophet of seventy - seventy-three!
Of all their acquaintances bidden (or bad)
With their loud high jinks
And underbred winks,
None thought they'd a family have - but they had;
A dear little lad
Who drove 'em half mad,
For he turned out a horribly fast little cad.
For when he was born he astonished all by,
With their "Law, dear me!"
"Did ever you see?"
He'd a pipe in his mouth and a glass in his eye,
A hat all awry -
An octagon tie -
And a miniature - miniature glass in his eye.
He grumbled at wearing a frock and a cap,
With his "Oh, dear, oh!"
And his "Hang it! 'oo know!"
And he turned up his nose at his excellent pap -
"My friends, it's a tap
Dat is not worf a rap."
(Now this was remarkably excellent pap.)
He'd chuck his nurse under the chin, and he'd say,
With his "Fal, lal, lal" -
"'Oo doosed fine gal!"
This shocking precocity drove 'em away:
"A month from to-day
Is as long as I'll stay -
Then I'd wish, if you please, for to toddle away."
His father, a simple old gentleman, he
With nursery rhyme
And "Once on a time,"
Would tell him the story of "Little Bo-P,"
"So pretty was she,
So pretty and wee,
As pretty, as pretty, as pretty could be."
But the babe, with a dig that would startle an ox,
With his "C'ck! Oh, my! -
Go along wiz 'oo, fie!"
Would exclaim, "I'm afraid 'oo a socking ole fox."
Now a father it shocks,
And it whitens his locks,
When his little babe calls him a shocking old fox.
The name of his father he'd couple and pair
(With his ill-bred laugh,
And insolent chaff)
With those of the nursery heroines rare -
Virginia the Fair,
Or Good Goldenhair,
Till the nuisance was more than a prophet could bear.
"There's Jill and White Cat" (said the bold little brat,
With his loud, "Ha, ha!")
"'Oo sly ickle Pa!
Wiz 'oo Beauty, Bo-Peep, and 'oo Mrs. Jack Sprat!
I've noticed 'oo pat
MY pretty White Cat -
I sink dear mamma ought to know about dat!"
He early determined to marry and wive,
For better or worse
With his elderly nurse -
Which the poor little boy didn't live to contrive:
His hearth didn't thrive -
No longer alive,
He died an enfeebled old dotard at five!
Now, elderly men of the bachelor crew,
With wrinkled hose
And spectacled nose,
Don't marry at all - you may take it as true
If ever you do
The step you will rue,
For your babes will be elderly - elderly too.
Scheme | ABBAAAA CDDCCCC EFFEEEE GCCGGGG HIIHHHH JKKJJJJ CLLCCCC MGNMMMM ONNOOOO PQQAPPP NRRNNNN STTSSSS |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001001011 11101 11011 11001001001 01011 11001 11001001001 111001011111 10101 011 01101011001 11111 101011 001011001001 11101001011 11111 011 11101001111 01101 11111 111101001101 11111101011 11111 11011 101011001011 01101 1101 001001001011 11011001001 11111 011111 011111111001 11101 111101 11101001001 11111001011 11111 1111 11011101 01111 111111 111111111001 11001011001 11001 01101 11101011011 11011 11001 11011011011 101101111011 11111 101111 101101101011 101011 01111 111011101011 01111011001 11111 01001 1110100101 01001 111 101011101011 11011101101 11111 1111 111011011011 11011 11011 11110111011 11001011001 11011 111001 101101101101 11101 11001 1110101111 11001101001 1101 011 11011111111 11011 01111 111111001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,632 |
Words | 543 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 84 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 167 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:43 min read
- 37 Views
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"The Precocious Baby - a Very True Tale" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41322/the-precocious-baby---a-very-true-tale>.
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