Analysis of Yanks



O'Leary, from Chicago, and a first-class fightin' man,
For his father was from Kerry, where the gentle art began:
Sergeant Dennis P. O'Leary, from somewhere on Archie Road,
Dodgin' shells and smellin' powder while the battle ebbed and flowed.

And the captain says: 'O'Leary, from your fightin' company
Pick a dozen fightin' Yankees and come skirmishin' with me;
Pick a dozen fightin' devils, and I know it's you who can.'
And O'Leary, he saluted like a first-class fightin' man.

O'Leary's eye was piercin' and O'Leary's voice was clear:
'Dimitri Georgoupoulos!' And Dimitri answered 'Here!'
Then 'Vladimir Slaminsky! Step three paces to the front,
For we're wantin' you to join us in a little Heinie hunt!'

'Garibaldi Ravioli!' Garibaldi was to share;
And 'Ole Axel Kettleson!' and 'Thomas Scalp-the-Bear!'
Who was Choctaw by inheritance, bred in the blood and bones,
But set down in army records by the name of Thomas Jones.

'Van Winkle Schuyler Stuyvesant!' Van Winkle was a bud
From the ancient tree of Stuyvesant and had it in his blood;
'Don Miguel de Colombo!' Don Miguel's next of kin
Were across the Rio Grande when Don Miguel went in.

'Ulysses Grant O'Sheridan!' Ulysses' sire, you see,
Had been at Appomattox near the famous apple-tree;
And 'Patrick Michael Casey!' Patrick Michael, you can tell,
Was a fightin' man by nature with three fightin' names as well.

'Joe Wheeler Lee!' And Joseph had a pair of fightin' eyes;
And his granddad was a Johnny, as perhaps you might surmise;
Then 'Robert Bruce MacPherson!' And the Yankee squad was done
With 'Isaac Abie Cohen!' once a lightweight champion.

Then O'Leary paced 'em forward and, says he: 'You Yanks, fall in!'
And he marched 'em to the captain. 'Let the skirmishin' begin.'
Says he, 'The Yanks are comin', and you beat 'em if you can!'
And saluted like a soldier and first-class fightin' man!


Scheme AABB CCAA XXDD EEFF GGHH CCII JJKK HHAA
Poetic Form Quatrain  (88%)
Metre 010101001111 111011101010101 10101010111101 11011010101001 00101010111100 101011001111 10101100111111 00101010101111 0101110010111 01010010101 110011110101 1111111001011 010010010111 01101010101 11110100100101 111010011011101 11010100110101 101011100011011 101101011111 0010101110110 010111000101011 11111010101 01010101010111 1011110111111 1101010101111 01110101011101 11010100010111 11010101011100 101011100111110 0111101010101 1101110111111 0010101001111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,864
Words 331
Sentences 28
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 44
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 177
Words per stanza (avg) 39
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:38 min read
217

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    "Yanks" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/43043/yanks>.

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    William Blake: "Tiger Tiger, burning bright, In the forests of the _________".
    A knight
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