Analysis of The Burning of the People's Variety Theatre, Aberdeen
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
'Twas in the year of 1896, and on the 30th of September,
Which many people in Aberdeen will long remember;
The burning of the People's Variety Theatre, in Bridge Place
Because the fire spread like lightning at a rapid pace.
The fire broke out on the stage, about eight o'clock,
Which gave to the audience a very fearful shock;
Then a stampede ensued, and a rush was made pell-mell,
And in the crush, trying to get out, many people fell.
The stage flies took fire owing to the gas
Not having room enough by them to pass;
And with his jacket Mr. Macaulay tried to put out the flame,
But oh! horrible to relate, it was all in vain.
Detective Innes, who was passing at the time of the fire,
Rendered help in every way the audience could desire,
By helping many of them for to get out,
Which was a heroic action, without any doubt.
Oh! it was a pitiful and fearful sight,
To see both old and young struggling with all their might,
For to escape from that merciless fire,
While it roared and mounted higher and higher.
Oh! it was horrible to hear the cries of that surging crowd,
Yelling and crying for "Help! help!" aloud;
While one old woman did fret and frown
Because her clothes were torn off when knocked down.
A lady and gentleman of the Music Hall company, Monti & Spry,
Managed to make their escape by climbing up very high
To an advertisement board, and smashing the glass of the fanlight,
And squeezed themselves through with a great fight.
But accidents will happen both on sea and land,
And the works of the Almighty is hard to understand;
And thank God there's only a few has fallen victims to the fire,
But I hope they are now in Heaven, amongst the Heavenly choir.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEXX AAFF GGAA HHII JJFG KKAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 10011010111010 1101001011010 01010100100100011 01010111010101 0101110101101 1110100010101 1001010011111 00011011110101 01111010101 1101011111 0111010010111101 1110010111101 0101011101011010 1010100101001010 11010111111 1100101001101 11101000101 1111011001111 11011110010 11101010010 111100110111101 1001011101 111101101 0101011111 010010010101100101 10111011101101 110100101001101 010111011 110011011101 0011001011101 01111001110101010 11111101001010010 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,657 |
Words | 314 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 41 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 164 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 113 Views
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"The Burning of the People's Variety Theatre, Aberdeen" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41880/the-burning-of-the-people%27s-variety-theatre%2C-aberdeen>.
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