Analysis of Little Popeet - the Lost Child
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
Near by the silent waters of the Mediterranean,
And at the door of an old hut stood a coloured man,
Whose dress was oriental in style and poor with wear,
While adown his furrowed cheeks ran many a tear.
And the poor coloured man seemed very discontent,
And his grief overcame him at this moment;
And he wrung his hands in agony wild,
And he cried, "Oh! help me, great God, to find my child."
"And Ada, my dear wife, but now she is dead,
Which fills my poor heart with sorrow and dread;
She was a very loving wife, but of her I'm bereft,
And I and my lost child are only left.
And, alas! I know not where to find my boy,
Who is dear to me and my only joy;
But with the help of God I will find him,
And this day in search of him I will begin."
So Medoo leaves Turkey and goes to France,
Expecting to find his boy there perhaps by chance;
And while there in Paris he was told
His boy by an Arab had been sold
To a company of French players that performed in the street,
Which was sad news to hear about his boy Popeet;
And while searching for him and making great moan,
He was told he was ill and in Madame Mercy's Home.
Then away went Medoo with his heart full of joy,
To gaze upon the face of his long-lost boy;
Who had been treated by the players mercilessly,
But was taken to the home of Madame Celeste.
She was a member of the players and the leader's wife,
And she loved the boy Popeet as dear as her life,
Because she had no children of her own;
And for the poor ill-treated boy often she did moan.
And when Popeet's father visited the Home,
He was shown into a room where Popeet lay alone,
Pale and emaciated, in his little bed;
And when his father saw him he thought he was dead.
And when Popeet saw his father he lept out of bed,
And only that his father caught him he'd been killed dead;
And his father cried, " Popeet, my own darling boy,
Thank God I've found you, and my heart's full of joy."
Then Madame Mercy's tears fell thick and fast,
When she saw that Popeet had found his father at last;
Then poor Popeet was taken home without delay,
And lived happy with his father for many a day.
Scheme | XXAA BXCC DDEE FFXX GGHH XBIJ FFXX KKII JIDD DDFF LLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (45%) |
Metre | 11010101000100 0101111110101 111010010111 11110111001 001101110001 01110111110 0111101001 011111111111 01011111111 1111111001 11010101110101 0101111101 00111111111 1111101101 1101111111 01101111101 111100111 010111110111 011010111 111110111 101001110101001 11111101111 01101101011 111111001011 10111111111 11010111111 1111010101000 111010111001 11010101000101 01101111101 0111110101 0101110110111 0111010001 111010111101 10010001101 011101111111 011111011111 0101110111111 01101111101 11111011111 110111101 111111111011 11111010101 0110111011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,074 |
Words | 423 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 146 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:08 min read
- 111 Views
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"Little Popeet - the Lost Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41835/little-popeet---the-lost-child>.
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