Analysis of What Is Fancy?
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
SISTER.
I am to write three lines, and you
Three others that will rhyme.
There-now I've done my task.
BROTHER.
Three stupid lines as e'er I knew.
When you've the pen next time,
Some question of me ask.
SISTER.
Then tell me, brother, and pray mind,
Brother, you tell me true:
What sort of thing is fancy?
BROTHER.
By all that I can ever find,
'Tis something that is very new,
And what no dunces can see.
SISTER.
That is not half the way to tell
What fancy is about;
So pray now tell me more.
BROTHER.
Sister, I think 'twere quite as well
That you should find it out;
So think the matter o'er.
SISTER.
It's what comes in our heads when we
Play at 'Let's-make-believe,'
And when we play at 'Guessing.'
BROTHER.
And I have heard it said to be
A talent often makes us grieve,
And sometimes proves a blessing.
Scheme | Abcd Abcd Aebf Aebf Aghx Agha Afij Afij |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10 11111101 110111 111111 10 110111011 110111 110111 10 11110011 101111 1111110 10 11111101 11011101 011111 10 11110111 110101 111111 10 10111111 111111 1101010 10 111010111 111101 0111110 10 01111111 01010111 0011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 780 |
Words | 157 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 76 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 19 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 119 Views
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"What Is Fancy?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5434/what-is-fancy%3F>.
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