Analysis of The Ancient Town of Leith
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
Ancient town of Leith, most wonderful to be seen,
With your many handsome buildings, and lovely links so green,
And the first buildings I may mention are the Courthouse and Town Hall,
Also Trinity House, and the Sailors' Home of Call.
Then as for Leith Fort, it was erected in 1779, which is really grand,
And which is now the artillery headquarters in Bonnie Scotland;
And as for the Docks, they are magnificent to see,
They comprise five docks, two piers, 1,141 yards long respectively.
And there's steamboat communication with London and the North of Scotland,
And the fares are really cheap and the accommodation most grand;
Then there's many public works in Leith, such as flour mills,
And chemical works, where medicines are made for curing many ills.
Besides, there are sugar refineries and distilleries,
Also engineer works, saw-mills, rope-works, and breweries,
Where many of the inhabitants are daily employed,
And the wages they receive make their hearts feel overjoyed.
In past times Leith shared the fortunes of Edinboro',
Because if withstood nine months' siege, which caused them great sorrow;
They fought against the Protestants in 1559 and in '60,
But they beat them back manfully and made them flee.
Then there's Bailie Gibson's fish shop, most elegant to be seen,
And the fish he sells there are, beautiful and clean;
And for himself, he is a very good man,
And to deny it there's few people can.
The suburban villas of Leith are elegant and grand,
With accommodation that might suit the greatest lady in the land;
And the air is pure and good for the people's health,
And health, I'm sure, is better by far than wealth.
The Links of Leith are beautiful for golfers to play,
After they have finished the toils of the day;
It is good for their health to play at golf there,
On that very beautiful green, and breathe the pure air.
The old town of Leith is situated at the junction of the River of Leith,
Which springs from the land of heather and heath;
And no part in the Empire is growing so rapidly,
Which the inhabitants of Leith are right glad to see.
And Leith in every way is in itself independent,
And has been too busy to attend to its own adornment;
But I venture to say and also mention
That the authorities to the town will pay more attention.
Ancient town of Leith, I must now conclude my muse,
And to write in praise of thee my pen does not refuse,
Because the inhabitants to me have been very kind,
And I'm sure more generous people would be hard to find.
They are very affable in temper and void of pride,
And I hope God will always for them provide;
May He shower His blessings upon them by land and sea,
Because they have always been very kind to me.
Scheme | AABB CDEE DCFF GGHH IIXE AAJJ CCKK LLMM NNEE OOPP QQRR SSEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 101111100111 11101010010111 001101110101011 1010010010111 1111111010011101 0111001001001010 0110111010011 1011111110100 0110010110001110 001110100001011 11101010111101 01001110011110101 011110010000100 10101111110100 11010010011001 0010101111101 0111101011000 01101111111110 11010100000 111111000111 111010111100111 001111110001 01011101011 0101111101 00101011110001 1001011101010001 001110110101 01111101111 0111110011011 10111001101 11111111111 1110100101011 0111111001010101011 1110111001 011001001101100 1001001111111 01010011001010 011110101111010 11101101010 100100101111010 101111110111 0110111111101 01001001111101 01111001011111 11101000100111 0111111101 11101100111101 01111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,657 |
Words | 486 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 177 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:28 min read
- 60 Views
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"The Ancient Town of Leith" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41850/the-ancient-town-of-leith>.
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