Analysis of Constant Cannibal Maiden, The
Wallace Irwin 1875 – 1959
Far, oh, far is the Mango island,
Far, oh, far is the tropical sea,
Palms a-slant and the hills a-smile, and
A cannibal maiden a-waiting for me.
I've been deceived by a damsel Spanish,
And Indian maidens both red and brown,
A black-eyed Turk and a blue-eyed Danish,
And a Puritan lassie of Salem town.
For the Puritan Prue she sets in the offing,
A-castin' 'er eyes at a tall marine,
And the Spanish minx is the wust at scoffing
Of all of the wimming I ever seen.
But the cannibal maid is a simple creetur,
With a habit of gazin' over the sea,
A-hopin' in vain for the day I'll meet 'er,
And constant and faithful a-yearnin' for me.
Me Turkish sweetheart she played me double,
Eloped with the Sultan Harum In-Deed,
And the Danish damsel she made me trouble
When she ups and married an oblong Swede.
But there's truth in the heart of the maid o' Mango,
Though her cheeks is black like the kiln-baked cork,
As she sets in the shade o' the whingo-whango,
A-waitin' for me, with a knife and fork.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GBGB HIHIXJEJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101010 111101001 101001010 01001001011 1101101010 0100101101 0111001110 00100101101 101001110010 011110101 0010110111 111011101 10100110101 1010111001 0101101110 0100100111 110111110 11010101 00101011110 1110101101 111001101110 1011110111 1110011011 011110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,109 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 151 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Constant Cannibal Maiden, The" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54296/constant-cannibal-maiden%2C-the>.
Discuss this Wallace Irwin poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In