Analysis of An Address to Shakespeare
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
Immortal! William Shakespeare, there's none can you excel,
You have drawn out your characters remarkably well,
Which is delightful for to see enacted upon the stage
For instance, the love-sick Romeo, or Othello, in a rage;
His writings are a treasure, which the world cannot repay,
He was the greatest poet of the past or of the present day
Also the greatest dramatist, and is worthy of the name,
I'm afraid the world shall never look upon his like again.
His tragedy of Hamlet is moral and sublime,
And for purity of langucge, nothing can be more fine
For instance, to hear the fair Ophelia making her moan,
At her father's grave, sad and alone....
In his beautiful play, "As You Like If," one passage is very fine,
Just for instance in fhe forest of Arden, the language is sublime,
Where Orlando speaks of his Rosilind, most lovely and divine,
And no other poet I am sure has written anything more fine;
His language is spoken in the Church and by the Advocate at the bar,
Here and there and everywhere throughout the world afar;
His writings abound with gospel truths, moral and sublime,
And I'm sure in my opinion they are surpassing fine;
In his beautiful tragedy of Othello, one passage is very fine,
Just for instance where Cassio looses his lieutenancy
... By drinking too much wine;
And in grief he exclaims, "Oh! that men should put an
Enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains."
In his great tragedy of Richard the III, one passage is very fine
Where the Duchess of York invokes the aid of the Divine
For to protect her innocent babes from the murderer's uplifted hand,
And smite him powerless, and save her babes, I'm sure 'tie really grand.
Immortal! Bard of Avon, your writings are divine,
And will live in the memories of you admirers until the end of time;
Your plays are read in family ciFcles with wonder and delight,
While seated around the fireside on a cold winter's night.
Scheme | AABBCCDEFGHHGFGGIIFGGJGKJGGLLGFMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010101111101 1111110001001 110101110100101 110011101010001 11010101011001 1101010101110101 100101000110101 101011101011101 1100110110001 0110011101111 11011010101001 101011001 01100111111101101 11100110110010101 10101111110001 0110101111101011 110110001010100101 101010010101 11001110110001 01101010110101 0110010010101101101 1110111011 110111 001101111111 100011110111 011100110011101101 10101101011001 110101001101001001 0111000101111101 0101110110101 0110010011010010111 111101001110001 11001010101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,877 |
Words | 343 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 33 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,494 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 340 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 147 Views
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"An Address to Shakespeare" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41774/an-address-to-shakespeare>.
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