Analysis of A Boy's Trials.
Jean Blewett 1862 (Janet McKishnie Scotia, Kent County, Ontario) – 1934 (Chatham)
When I was but a little lad
One thing I could not bear,
It was to stand at mother's knee
And have her comb my hair.
They didn't keep boys' hair as short
As it's kept now-a-days,
And mine was always tangled up
In twenty different ways.
I'd twist my mouth and grit my teeth,
And say it wasn't fair -
It was a trial, and no mistake,
When mother combed my hair.
She'd brush and brush each stubborn curl
That grew upon my pate,
And with her scissors nip and clip
To make the edges straight.
Then smooth it down until it shone,
While I would grin and bear,
And feel a martyr through and through,
When mother combed my hair.
She'd take my round chin in her hand
And hold it there the while
She made the parting carefully,
Then tell me with a smile:
"Don't push your cap down on your curls
And spoil my work and care;
He is a pretty little lad
When mother combs his hair."
I'd hurry out and rumple up
That mop of hair so thick -
A vandal, I, for she had worked
So hard to make it slick -
And wish I were a grown-up man
So nobody would dare
To put a washrag in my ears,
Or comb my tangled hair.
Heigho! now that I'm bald and gray,
Methinks I would be glad
To have her smooth my brow and cheeks,
And whisper, "Mother's lad!"
A longing for the care-free days
Doth take me unaware;
To stand, a boy, at mother's knee
And have her comb my hair.
Scheme | abcB xded xbxB xfxf xbxB xgcg xbab ehxh xbxb xaxa dbcB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11110101 111111 11111101 010111 11011111 111101 0111101 0101001 11110111 011101 110100101 110111 11011101 110111 01010101 110101 11110111 111101 01010101 110111 11111001 011101 11010100 111101 11111111 011101 11010101 110111 11010101 111111 01011111 111111 01100111 1111 1101011 111101 1111101 11111 11011101 010101 01010111 11101 11011101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,317 |
Words | 281 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 5 Views
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"A Boy's Trials." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55759/a-boy%27s-trials.>.
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