Analysis of The Duty Of A Brother
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
Why on your sister do you look,
Octavius, with an eye of scorn,
As scarce her presence you could brook?-
Under one roof you both were born.
Why, when she gently proffers speech,
Do you ungently turn your head?
Since the same sire gave life to each;
With the same milk ye both were fed.
Such treatment to a female, though
A perfect stranger she might be,
From you would most unmanly show;
In you to her 'tis worse to see.
When any ill-bred boys offend her,
Showing their manhood by their sneers,
It is your business to defend her
'Gainst their united taunts and jeers.
And not to join the illiberal crew
In their contempt of female merit;
What's bad enough in them, from you
Is want of goodness, want of spirit.
What if your rougher out-door sports
Her less robustious spirits daunt;
And if she join not the resorts
Where you and your wild playmates haunt:
Her milder province is at home;
When your diversions have an end,
When over-toiled from play you come,
You'll find in her an in-doors friend.
Leave not your sister to another;
As long as both of you reside
In the same house, who but her brother
Should point her books, her studies guide?
If Nature, who allots our cup,
Than her has made you stronger, wiser;
It is that you, as you grow up,
Should be her champion, her adviser.
It is the law that hand intends
Which framed diversity of sex;
The man the woman still defends,
The manly boy the girl protects.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGX HIHI JKJK XLXL GMGM NGNG OXOX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 11110111 010011111 11010111 10111101 1111011 111111 101101111 10111101 1101011 00110111 111111 01101111 110111010 1011111 111101010 11010101 0111011 01011110 11010111 111101110 11110111 011101 01111001 1101111 01010111 11010111 11011111 11001011 111101010 11111101 001111010 11010101 110101101 101111010 11111111 1101000010 11011101 11010011 01010101 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,380 |
Words | 265 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 110 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 84 Views
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