Analysis of The Ape
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
An Ape is but a trivial beast,
Men count it light and vain;
But I would let them have their thoughts,
To have my Ape again.
To love a beast in any sort
Is no great sign of grace;
But I have loved a flouting Ape's
'Bove any lady's face.
I have known the power of two fair eyes,
In smile or else in glance,
And how (for I a lover was)
They make the spirits dance;
But I would give two hundred smiles
Of them that fairest be,
For one look of my staring Ape
That used to stare on me.
This beast, this Ape, it had a face-
If face it might be styled-
Sometimes it was a staring Ape,
Sometimes a beauteous child-
A Negro flat-a Pagod squat,
Cast in a Chinese mould-
And then it was a Cherub's face
Made of the beaten gold!
But Time, that's meddling, meddling still,
And always altering things-
And what's already at the best
To alteration brings,
That turns the sweetest buds to flowers,
And chops and changes toys,
That breaks up dreams, and parts old friends,
And still commutes our joys-
Has changed away my Ape at last
And in its place conveyed,
Thinking therewith to cheat my sight,
A fresh and blooming maid!
And fair to sight is she-and still
Each day doth sightlier grow,
Upon the ruins of the Ape,
My ancient playfellow!
The tale of Sphinx, and Theban jests
I true in me perceive;
I suffer riddles; death from dark
Enigmas I receive:
Whilst a hid being I pursue,
That lurks in a new shape,
My darling in herself I miss,
And, in my ape, the ape.
Scheme | XXAX XBAB XCXC XDED BFEF XGBG HIXI XJXJ XKXK HXEH XLXL XEXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 111101001 111101 11111111 111101 11010101 111111 11110101 110101 1110101111 011101 01110101 110101 11111101 111101 11111101 111111 11111101 111111 01110101 01011 0101011 100011 0111011 110101 1111001001 011001 01010101 10101 110101110 010101 11110111 0101101 11011111 001101 1011111 010101 01111101 11111 01010101 1101 0111011 110101 11010111 1101 10110101 110011 11000111 001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,412 |
Words | 284 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 93 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 127 Views
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"The Ape" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5378/the-ape>.
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