Analysis of St. Anthony's Sermon To The Fishes
Abraham a Sancta-Clara 1644 ( Kreenheinstetten, Leibertingen, ) – 1709 (Vienna, )
Saint Anthony at church
Was left in the lurch,
So he went to the ditches
And preached to the fishes.
They wriggled their tails,
In the sun glanced their scales.
The carps, with their spawn,
Are all thither drawn;
Have opened their jaws,
Eager for each clause.
No sermon beside
Had the carps so edified.
Sharp-snouted pikes,
Who keep fighting like tikes,
Now swam up harmonious
To hear Saint Antonius.
No sermon beside
Had the pikes so edified.
And that very odd fish,
Who loves fast-days, the cod-fish,
The stock-fish, I mean,
At the sermon was seen.
No sermon beside
Had the cods so edified.
Good eels and sturgeon,
Which aldermen gorge on,
Went out of their way
To hear preaching that day.
No sermon beside
Had the eels so edified.
Crabs and turtles also,
Who always move low,
Made haste from the bottom
As if the devil had got 'em.
No sermon beside
The crabs so edified.
Fish great and fish small,
Lords, lackeys, and all,
Each looked at the preacher
Like a reasonable creature.
At God's word,
They Anthony heard.
The sermon now ended,
Each turned and descended;
The pikes went on stealing,
The eels went on eeling.
Much delighted were they,
But preferred the old way.
The crabs are backsliders,
The stock-fish thick-siders,
The carps are sharp-set,
All the sermon forget.
Much delighted were they,
But preferred the old way.
Scheme | aabbcc dxeeFf gghhFf iijjFf xdkkFf llxxFf mmnnoo ppqqKK bxrrKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110011 11001 1111010 011010 1111 001111 01111 1111 11011 10111 11001 10111 111 111011 1110100 1110100 11001 10111 011011 1111011 01111 101011 11001 10111 11010 110011 11111 111011 11001 10111 101010 1111 111010 11010111 11001 0111 11011 11001 111010 10100010 111 11001 010110 110010 011110 01111 101001 101011 0111 011110 01111 101001 101001 101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,559 |
Words | 233 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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"St. Anthony's Sermon To The Fishes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54276/st.-anthony%27s-sermon-to-the-fishes>.
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