Analysis of The Lame Brother
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
My parents sleep both in one grave;
My only friend's a brother.
The dearest things upon the earth
We are to one another.
A fine stout boy I knew him once,
With active form and limb;
Whene'er he leaped, or jumped, or ran,
O I was proud of him!
He leaped too far, he got a hurt,
He now does limping go.-
When I think on his active days,
My heart is full of woe.
He leans on me, when we to school
Do every morning walk;
I cheer him on his weary way,
He loves to hear my talk:
The theme of which is mostly this,
What things he once could do.
He listens pleased-then sadly says,
'Sister, I lean on you.'
Then I reply, 'Indeed you're not
Scarce any weight at all.-
And let us now still younger years
To memory recall.
'Led by your little elder hand,
I learned to walk alone;
Careful you used to be of me,
My little brother John.
'How often, when my young feet tired,
You've carried me a mile!-
And still together we can sit,
And rest a little while.
'For our kind master never minds,
If we're the very last;
He bids us never tire ourselves
With walking on too fast.'
Scheme | XAXA XBXB XCXC XDXD XEXE XFXF XXXX XGXG XHXH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 11011011 1101010 01010101 1111010 01111111 110101 1111111 111111 11111101 111101 11111101 111111 11111111 1100101 11111101 111111 01111101 111111 11011101 101111 11010111 110111 01111101 11001 11110101 111101 10111111 110101 110111110 110101 01010111 010101 110110101 110101 1111010001 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,033 |
Words | 218 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 88 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 115 Views
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