Analysis of The Inauguration of the Hill o' Balgay
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
Beautiful Hill o' Balgay,
With your green frees and flowers fair,
'Tis health for the old and young
For to be walking there,
To breathe the fragrant air
Emanating from the green bushes
And beautiful flowers there,
Then they can through the burying-ground roam,
And read the epitaphs on the tombstones
Before they go home.
There the lovers can wander safe arm in arm,
For policemen are there to protect them from harm
And to watch there all day,
So that no accident can befall them
In the Hill o' Balgay.
Then there's Harry Scott's mansion,
Most beautiful to be seen,
Also the Law Hill, likewise the Magdalen Green,
And the silvery Tay,
Rolling on its way.
And the coast of Fife,
And the beautiful town of St. Andrews,
Where Cardinal Beaten lost his life;
And to be seen on a clear summer day,
From the top of the beautiful Hill o' Balgay.
On the opening day of the Hill o' Balgay,
It was a most beautiful sight to see
Numerous bands, with flags and banners, assembled in Dundee,
All in grand procession, with spirits light, that day,
March'd out the Blackness Road to the Hill o' Balgay.
The Earl o' Dalhousie was there on the opening day,
Also Harry Scott, the young laird o' Balgay,
And he made a great speech to the people there,
And they applauded him with cries that rent the air.
The Earl o' Dalhousie made a fine speech in his turn,
And said there was only one thing that caus'd him to mourn,-
There was no profection from the rain in the Hill o' Balgay,
And he would give another five hundred pounds away
For to erect a shed for the people upon a rainy day,
To keep them dry and comfortable on the Hill o' Balgay.
Then the people applauded him with three loud cheers,
For their hearts were all opened, and flowed with joyous tears,
So they all dispers'd quietly with spirits light that day,
And that ended the inauguration of the Hill o' Balgay.
Scheme | ABABBCBDEDFFGHAIJJGGKLKGAAMMGAGABBNOAGGAPQGA |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100111 11110101 1110101 111101 110101 10010110 0100101 1111010011 01010101 01111 10101101101 101011101111 011111 1111001011 00111 1110110 1100111 10011101001 001001 10111 00111 001001111 110010111 0111101101 10110100111 10100110111 1101100111 100111010010001 101010110111 11010110111 011111101001 1010101111 01101110101 010101111101 01111011011 0111101111111 111110100111 0111010110101 1101011010010101 11110100010111 101001011111 1110110011101 11101100110111 01100001010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,818 |
Words | 346 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,448 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 343 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 75 Views
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