Analysis of How we drove the Trotter
William Thomas Goodge 1862 – 1909
Oh, he was a handsome trotter, and he couldn't be completer,
He had such a splendid action and he trotted to this metre,
Such a pace and such a courage, such a record-killing power,
That he did his mile in two-fifteen, his twenty in the hour.
When he trotted on the Bathurst road the pace it was a panter,
But he broke the poet's rhythm when he broke out in a canter -
As we were remarking the pace was a panter,
But just as we liked it he broke in a canter,
And rattled along with a motion terrific,
And scattered the sparks with a freedom prolific;
He tugged at the bit and he jerked at the bridle,
We pulled like a demon, the effort was idle,
The bit in his teeth and the rein in the crupper,
We didn't much care to get home to our supper.
Then we went
Like the wind,
And our hands
They were skinned,
And we thought
With a dread
To go over his head,
And we tugged
And we strove,
Couldn't say
That we drove
Till we found
It had stopped
And the gallop was dropped!
Then he dropped into a trot again as steady as a pacer,
And we thought we had a dandy that was sure to make a racer
That would rival all the Yankees and was bound to beat the British,
Not a bit of vice about him though he was a trifle skittish;
Past the buggies and the sulkies on the road we went a-flying,
For the pace it was a clinker, and they had no chance of trying,
But for fear he'd start a canter we were going to stop his caper
When he bolted like a bullet at a flying piece of paper -
Helter skelter,
What a pelter!
Such a pace to win a welter!
Rush,
Race,
Tear!
Flying through the air!
Wind a-humming,
Fears benumbing,
Here's another trap a-coming!
Shouts!
Bash!
Crash!
Moses, what a smash!
Scheme | AAAAAA AABBCCAA XXXXXDDXEXEXFF AAGGHHAA AAAXXAAHBHXIII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (36%) |
Metre | 11101010011011 1110101001101110 1010101010011010 1111101011100010 1110101010111010 1110101011110010 110010011010 111111110010 010011010010 010011010010 111010111010 111010010110 01011001001 1101111111010 111 101 0101 101 011 101 111011 011 011 101 111 111 111 001011 1110101011101010 0111101011111010 1110101001111010 1011101111101010 101000110111010 101110101111110 11111010101011110 1110101010101110 1010 101 10111010 1 1 1 10101 1010 11 10101010 1 1 1 10101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,893 |
Words | 335 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 8, 14, 8, 14 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 256 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 135 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"How we drove the Trotter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41746/how-we-drove-the-trotter>.
Discuss this William Thomas Goodge 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