Analysis of The Sensation Captain
No nobler captain ever trod
Than CAPTAIN PARKLEBURY TODD,
So good - so wise - so brave, he!
But still, as all his friends would own,
He had one folly - one alone -
This Captain in the Navy.
I do not think I ever knew
A man so wholly given to
Creating a sensation,
Or p'raps I should in justice say -
To what in an Adelphi play
Is known as "situation."
He passed his time designing traps
To flurry unsuspicious chaps -
The taste was his innately;
He couldn't walk into a room
Without ejaculating "Boom!"
Which startled ladies greatly.
He'd wear a mask and muffling cloak,
Not, you will understand, in joke,
As some assume disguises;
He did it, actuated by
A simple love of mystery
And fondness for surprises.
I need not say he loved a maid -
His eloquence threw into shade
All others who adored her.
The maid, though pleased at first, I know,
Found, after several years or so,
Her startling lover bored her.
So, when his orders came to sail,
She did not faint or scream or wail,
Or with her tears anoint him:
She shook his hand, and said "Good-bye,"
With laughter dancing in her eye -
Which seemed to disappoint him.
But ere he went aboard his boat,
He placed around her little throat
A ribbon, blue and yellow,
On which he hung a double-tooth -
A simple token this, in sooth -
'Twas all he had, poor fellow!
"I often wonder," he would say,
When very, very far away,
"If ANGELINA wears it?
A plan has entered in my head:
I will pretend that I am dead,
And see how ANGY bears it."
The news he made a messmate tell.
His ANGELINA bore it well,
No sign gave she of crazing;
But, steady as the Inchcape Rock,
His ANGELINA stood the shock
With fortitude amazing.
She said, "Some one I must elect
Poor ANGELINA to protect
From all who wish to harm her.
Since worthy CAPTAIN TODD is dead,
I rather feel inclined to wed
A comfortable farmer."
A comfortable farmer came
(BASSANIO TYLER was his name),
Who had no end of treasure.
He said, "My noble gal, be mine!"
The noble gal did not decline,
But simply said, "With pleasure."
When this was told to CAPTAIN TODD,
At first he thought it rather odd,
And felt some perturbation;
But very long he did not grieve,
He thought he could a way perceive
To SUCH a situation!
"I'll not reveal myself," said he,
"Till they are both in the Ecclesiastical arena;
Then suddenly I will appear,
And paralysing them with fear,
Demand my ANGELINA!"
At length arrived the wedding day;
Accoutred in the usual way
Appeared the bridal body;
The worthy clergyman began,
When in the gallant Captain ran
And cried, "Behold your TODDY!"
The bridegroom, p'raps, was terrified,
And also possibly the bride -
The bridesmaids WERE affrighted;
But ANGELINA, noble soul,
Contrived her feelings to control,
And really seemed delighted.
"My bride!" said gallant CAPTAIN TODD,
"She's mine, uninteresting clod!
My own, my darling charmer!"
"Oh dear," said she, "you're just too late -
I'm married to, I beg to state,
This comfortable farmer!"
"Indeed," the farmer said, "she's mine:
You've been and cut it far too fine!"
"I see," said TODD, "I'm beaten."
And so he went to sea once more,
"Sensation" he for aye forswore,
And married on her native shore
A lady whom he'd met before -
A lovely Otaheitan.
Scheme | AABCCB DDEFFE GGBHHB IIJKBJ LLMNNM OOPKKP QQNRRN FFSTTS UUIVVX WWMTTM XXMYYM AAEZZE B1 2 2 1 FFB3 3 A 4 4 A5 5 X AAM6 6 M YYE7 M7 7 C |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 11011 1111111 11111111 11110101 1100010 11111101 01110101 0100010 111110101 11010101 111010 11110101 11011 0111010 11010101 0111 1101010 11010101 1110101 1101010 11111 01011100 0101010 11111101 11001011 1101010 01111111 11010111 0101010 11110111 11111111 1101011 11110111 11010001 111011 11110111 11010101 0101010 11110101 01010101 1111110 11010111 11010101 1001011 01110011 11011111 0111011 0111011 10010111 111111 1101011 10010101 110010 11111101 10010101 1111110 11010111 11010111 0100010 01000101 110111 1111110 11110111 01011101 1101110 11111101 11111101 011010 11011111 11110101 110010 1101111 11110000100010 11001101 01111 0110010 11010101 1001001 0101010 01010001 10010101 010111 0111110 01010001 0101 10010101 01010101 0101010 11110101 1101001 1111010 11111111 11011111 1100010 01010111 11011111 1111110 01111111 0101111 01010101 01011101 0101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,111 |
Words | 607 |
Sentences | 31 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 103 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 3:00 min read
- 92 Views
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"The Sensation Captain" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41329/the-sensation-captain>.
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