Analysis of To My Bride (Whoever She May Be)
William Schwenck Gilbert 1836 – 1911
Oh! little maid! - (I do not know your name
Or who you are, so, as a safe precaution
I'll add) - Oh, buxom widow! married dame!
(As one of these must be your present portion)
Listen, while I unveil prophetic lore for you,
And sing the fate that Fortune has in store for you.
You'll marry soon - within a year or twain -
A bachelor of CIRCA two and thirty:
Tall, gentlemanly, but extremely plain,
And when you're intimate, you'll call him "BERTIE."
Neat - dresses well; his temper has been classified
As hasty; but he's very quickly pacified.
You'll find him working mildly at the Bar,
After a touch at two or three professions,
From easy affluence extremely far,
A brief or two on Circuit - "soup" at Sessions;
A pound or two from whist and backing horses,
And, say three hundred from his own resources.
Quiet in harness; free from serious vice,
His faults are not particularly shady,
You'll never find him "SHY" - for, once or twice
Already, he's been driven by a lady,
Who parts with him - perhaps a poor excuse for him -
Because she hasn't any further use for him.
Oh! bride of mine - tall, dumpy, dark, or fair!
Oh! widow - wife, maybe, or blushing maiden,
I've told YOUR fortune; solved the gravest care
With which your mind has hitherto been laden.
I've prophesied correctly, never doubt it;
Now tell me mine - and please be quick about it!
You - only you - can tell me, an' you will,
To whom I'm destined shortly to be mated,
Will she run up a heavy MODISTE'S bill?
If so, I want to hear her income stated
(This is a point which interests me greatly).
To quote the bard, "Oh! have I seen her lately?"
Say, must I wait till husband number one
Is comfortably stowed away at Woking?
How is her hair most usually done?
And tell me, please, will she object to smoking?
The colour of her eyes, too, you may mention:
Come, Sibyl, prophesy - I'm all attention.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHXX IEIEJJ KBKBLL MXMXEE BNBNBB |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111111 11111101010 1111010101 11111111010 101101010111 010111010111 1101010111 01001101010 1100010101 01110011110 11011101110 11011101010 1111010101 10011111010 1101000101 01111101110 01111101010 01110111100 10010111001 1111100010 1101111111 01011101010 111101010111 011101010111 1111110111 11011011010 1111010101 1111111110 1100101011 11110111011 1101111111 11110101110 111101011 1111110110 1101110110 11011111010 1111110101 1100010111 1101110001 01111110110 0110111110 110111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,827 |
Words | 354 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:49 min read
- 65 Views
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