Analysis of The Demon Drink
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
Oh, thou demon Drink, thou fell destroyer;
Thou curse of society, and its greatest annoyer.
What hast thou done to society, let me think?
I answer thou hast caused the most of ills, thou demon Drink.
Thou causeth the mother to neglect her child,
Also the father to act as he were wild,
So that he neglects his loving wife and family dear,
By spending his earnings foolishly on whisky, rum and beer.
And after spending his earnings foolishly he beats his wife-
The man that promised to protect her during life-
And so the man would if there was no drink in society,
For seldom a man beats his wife in a state of sobriety.
And if he does, perhaps he finds his wife fou',
Then that causes, no doubt, a great hullaballo;
When he finds his wife drunk he begins to frown,
And in a fury of passion he knocks her down.
And in that knock down she fractures her head,
And perhaps the poor wife she is killed dead,
Whereas, if there was no strong drink to be got,
To be killed wouldn't have been the poor wife's lot.
Then the unfortunate husband is arrested and cast into jail,
And sadly his fate he does bewail;
And he curses the hour that ever was born,
And paces his cell up and down very forlorn.
And when the day of his trial draws near,
No doubt for the murdering of his wife he drops a tear,
And he exclaims, "Oh, thou demon Drink, through thee I must die,"
And on the scaffold he warns the people from drink to fly,
Because whenever a father or a mother takes to drink,
Step by step on in crime they do sink,
Until their children loses all affection for them,
And in justice we cannot their children condemn.
The man that gets drunk is little else than a fool,
And is in the habit, no doubt, of advocating for Home Rule;
But the best Home Rule for him, as far as I can understand,
Is the abolition of strong drink from the land.
And the men that get drunk in general wants Home Rule;
But such men, I rather think, should keep their heads cool,
And try and learn more sense, I most earnestlty do pray,
And help to get strong drink abolished without delay.
If drink was abolished how many peaceful homes would there be,
Just, for instance in the beautiful town of Dundee;
then this world would be heaven, whereas it's a hell,
An the people would have more peace in it to dwell
Alas! strong drink makes men and women fanatics,
And helps to fill our prisons and lunatics;
And if there was no strong drink such cases wouldn't be,
Which would be a very glad sight for all christians to see.
O admit, a man may be a very good man,
But in my opinion he cannot be a true Christian
As long as he partakes of strong drink,
The more that he may differently think.
But no matter what he thinks, I say nay,
For by taking it he helps to lead his brither astray,
Whereas, if he didn't drink, he would help to reform society,
And we would soon do away with all inebriety.
Then, for the sake of society and the Church of God,
Let each one try to abolish it at home and abroad;
Then poverty and crime would decrease and be at a stand,
And Christ's Kingdom would soon be established throughout the land.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, pause and think,
And try to abolish the foul fiend, Drink.
Let such doctrine be taught in church and school,
That the abolition of strong drink is the only Home Rule.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF EGHH IIJJ GGKK DXXG BBLL GGMM GGNG FFGG OOFF XXBB NNFC XXMM BBGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 1110111010 111010001101 111110100111 11011101111101 1101010101 10010111101 11101110101001 110110100110101 010101101001111 011101010101 010111111100100 1100111100110100 01110111111 111011011 11111110111 000101101101 0011111001 0010111111 01111111111 11110110111 10010010101001011 01011111 011001011011 010111011001 0101111011 11101001111101 01011110111111 01010110101111 010100101010111 111101111 0111010101011 001011011001 011111101101 010010111100111 10111111111101 10010111101 0011110100111 111110111111 01011111111 0111110100101 111010110101111 1110001001101 111111001101 101011110111 011111010010 01111010010 0111111110101 11101011111011 101011101011 10101011010110 11111111 011111001 1110111111 1110111111101 01111011111010100 0111101111 11011010000111 11111010111001 11000110101101 01101110100101 110010101 0110100111 1110110101 10010111101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 3,240 |
Words | 630 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 160 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 3:10 min read
- 179 Views
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"The Demon Drink" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41899/the-demon-drink>.
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